304
(2007), he issues an invitation to the Straits user
to agree to a voluntary payment of US 1 cent per
ton for every vessel that transit through the
Straits. Since annually more than 4 billion tons of
cargo that passes through the Straits, these would
raise 40 million dollar a year. This amount would
more than enough to eliminate the excessive bur-
den by the Littoral states (B.A Hamzah, 2008).
− Cooperative mechanism between littoral states
and other straits user.
In November 2004, the IMO Council at its 93
rd
meeting considered that the Straits of Malacca
and Singapore as specific and vital shipping lane.
Following that decision, in September 2006, three
littoral states (Malaysia, Indonesia and Singa-
pore) together with Japan and other industry rep-
resentatives such as INTERTANKO and ICS had
developed the Cooperative Mechanism for main-
taining safety of navigation and environmental
protection of the Straits.
Subsequently, the industry and other Straits user
are encouraged to participate in the Cooperative
Mechanisms by making voluntary contributions
to the Aids of Navigation Fund or either partici-
pating in the Cooperation Forum (R.Beckman,
2008). As major beneficiaries of safe and secure
passage through the Straits, fairness and justice
dictate that industry and other users should partic-
ipate in the Cooperative Mechanisms.
− Involving public, private sector and academics
stakeholders.
Reference in Article 43 of UNCLOS to user
States does not preclude participation by industry
or other private sectors. This Article avoids the
legal problems that would arise if the Littoral
States established mandatory tolls or charges.
However, the private sector does not need to jus-
tify burden sharing and to undertake Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) just because the Ar-
ticle 43 omits mention of the private sector. This
is because cooperation in promoting common
good is requiring under international law. Thus,
the CSR role of the private sector especially for
oil major companies and shipping interest should
go beyond monetary contribution. The concept of
CSR dictates that the private sector should recog-
nised the shared responsibility to ensure safe and
secure passage through vital international ship-
ping lanes.
Beside that, scholars, academia, researchers and
scientist from universities and institutions are en-
couraged to share idea, research finding and con-
sultation on issues of common interest in the
Straits. In recognizing the role they could play,
the Littoral States and the MEH Project Steering
Committee (PSC) should facilitate the concrete
and practical cooperation methods. In this re-
spect, the cooperation forum will be useful plat-
form for the Littoral states and PSC to gather
feedback. In addition, some fund should be allo-
cated for research grant in order to make fruition
of information through research finding.
5.2 Conclusion
The establishment of MEH Project is significantly
important to the maritime industry. The efforts
through Cooperative Mechanism and actively partic-
ipated in PSC meeting are the testament that the lit-
toral states and other stakeholder are working to-
gether to ensure the implementation of this project is
running smoothly since the donor agencies, user
States and the maritime industry have great expecta-
tions on its accomplishment.
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