Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian National Defence Forces (TNI) and Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) have agreed to step up cooperation including intelligence to secure the two countries` territorial waters.

At TNI-SAF annual staff meeting here on Tuesday, TNI Chief of Staff for General Affairs Vice Marshal Edy Harjoko said the Indonesia-Singapore Joint Coordinated Committee (ISJCC) had successfully overcome piracy around Philips Strait and Singapore Strait.

Yet the success served as a challenge for both TNI and SAF to make constant efforts to ensure "zero incident" in the two straits, he said.

"Therefore, the intelligence community need to increase their role to overcome the incident as early as possible," he said.

He instructed the Maritime Security Task Force (MSTF) and Police Coast Guard (PCG) to always work hard to step up security by among others updating intelligence data in support of the operations.

He further said the civic mission conducted by TNI and SAF since a few years ago also had contributed to the success of both sides` coordinated patrol for sea security.

"Basically, all illegal activities at sea are planned on land. That`s why, as one of the efforts to prevent crimes at sea both sides conduct civic mission which is also aimed at promoting the living standard of local people," he said.

The TNI-SAF annual staff meeting is aimed at evaluating a number of cooperation fields, including Indonesia-Singapore Intelligence Exchange (Isintelex), Indonesia-Singapore Joint Coordinated Committee (ISJCC), Indonesia-Singapore Joint Training Committee (ISJTC) and Indonesia-Singapore Joint Logistics Committee (ISJLC) during the February 2010-February 2011 period.

The meeting brought together 31 participants consisting of 16 TNI officers and 15 SAF officers.(*)

Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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