Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Thursday his country would never allow foreign military forces to help it patrol the Malacca Straits.

Malaysia firmly believes in the principle of sovereignty and independence of a country, no matter how small the country is, Badawi said in his keynote speech at the 56th General Assembly of the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

"Their presence (of foreign forces) without our permission is an encroachment which we consider as being disrespectful of our country's sovereignty," Badawi, who was also UMNO president, was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

The Straits of Malacca is now jointly patrolled by the littoral states of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

However, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said on June 7 that the international community could help reinforce security in the straits by providing maritime surveillance aircraft which would be operated by security forces of the littoral states.

According to a recent report issued by the International Maritime Bureau, eight piracy attacks have been reported in the straits with increasing violence during the first half of the year 2005.

Over 60,000 vessels, with shipment of a third of global trade and half of the world's oil, pass through the straits every year.

About 2,500 party members are attending the three-day assembly, which is the last general assembly for UMNO during the Eighth Malaysia Plan (from 2001 to 2005).

UMNO leads the party coalition National Front, which has been ruling Malaysia since its independence in 1957.

Source: Xinhua