The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, also known as, ‘Maritim Malaysia’ was established based on the Feasibility Study on the Establishment of the Malaysian Coast Guard which was made by the Malaysian National Security Council in the Prime Minister’s Department.
Based on the study made, results have yielded that enforcements with regards to maritime have become ineffective and inefficient due to a considerably large number of agencies being involved in the matter hence, causing periodical over-lapping in terms of function and responsibility; as well as undermining the effective utilization of resources. Therefore, based on the report which was agreed upon by the Government and a Nucleus Team, the agency was established as an act to unify all other maritime related agencies to address issues that are an impediment towards the enforcement of maritime laws within Malaysian waters.
Although still in its early stages, Maritim Malaysia has taken the helm of becoming the maritime agency that is given the jurisdiction of enforcing the maritime laws of Malaysia to its fullest extent, under the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Act 2004 (Act 633); parallel to their mission of protecting and preserving the safety, security and sovereignty of the Malaysian Maritime Zone as well as preserving lives and property during emergencies at sea.
The Malaysian Maritime Zone is as follows:-
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Territorial Sea: 12 nautical miles (22 km) from baseline (low-water mark closest to shore)
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Contiguous Zone: 24 nautical miles (44km) from coast
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Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ): 200 nautical miles (370km) from coast
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Continental Shelf: 200 nautical miles (370km) or to the extent of the continental margin
The agency has been regarded to be the Coast Guard of Malaysia due to the similarity in terms of function and responsibilities reflected by the vision and mission of the agency which is somewhat identical to that of the US Coast Guard. The US Coast Guard’s core mission involves search and rescue; and it is in this aspect that Maritim Malaysia shares commonly other than the fact they too take preventive measures in ensuring that any activities that is considered to be malicious or violating maritime laws are dealt with and stemmed from allowing to proceed further.
Be as it may, what distinguishes Maritim Malaysia from the US Coast Guard is the fact that the US Coast Guard has been in service for half a century and that they are fully pledged as part of the seven uniformed services of the United States of America; whereas, Maritim Malaysia is not, and does not plan to be part of the Malaysian Armed Forces.
Although the US Coast Guard goes for a more military approach when it comes to performing their duties, Maritim Malaysia on the contrary, tries a less drastic approach –although will respond accordingly towards aggressive or high profile cases– in a sense that they are present in order to remind anyone about the ills of maritime related crimes and violations in that they may not necessarily cause harm and injury most of the time, but would inadvertently cause inconveniences towards other parties as well as the nation. In other words, Maritim Malaysia wants to be perceived as an agency that does not “deliberately” aim at apprehending wrong doers, but instead, educate the public.
Based on that ideal, Maritim Malaysia strives to help the community by offering base establishment services as well as giving support to any agencies which are relatively connected to local maritime endeavours. In addition, Maritim Malaysia also wants to approach and instill understanding among the people by making periodical visits to the community in order to sow the seeds of understanding and responsibilities that each members of society ought to play in preserving the safety, security and sovereignty of the Malaysian Maritime Zone.
