KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Malaysia Friday firmly opposed interference from third parties in tackling terrorism in the Melaka Straits despite Singapore's concern about the littoral states' capability to resolve the problem.

    Malaysia's stand was conveyed by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to visiting Singapore Home Minister Wong Kan Seng when the latter called on him at his office in Putrajaya, the Federal Administrative Center.

    Malaysia felt that the involvement of a third party to control security in the straits, one of the busiest trade routes in the region, would not bring any benefit, Najib told reporters after the meeting.

    Najib also stressed that Malaysia was not agreeable to the involvement of a third country in the Melaka Straits because the nation's sovereignty was at stake.

    "We don't agree to the sovereignty of our nation being compromised," he said.

    He said that what concerned Singapore was the possibility of anunimaginable scenario like a tanker or a liquified natural gas (LNG) carrier being hijacked by terrorists and used as a launching pad for guided missiles.

    "It is something that is hard to believe, but Singapore's concern is that it could happen and (they want to) take precautionary measures to ensure that in the unlikely event, we will have the capacity to deal with it."

    "They just expressed their concern about the capacity of the three countries (Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia) to deal with high-level terrorist threat, not the normal, low-level terrorist threat which we can handle," he said.

    Najib said Singapore did not press for the US involvement in the straits but hinted that the three littoral states would not beable to handle the situation should a terrorist threat occur.

    "So, the entry of the United States is still open for Singaporebut for Malaysia, we don't agree to the entry of a third nation," he said.

    To another question, Najib said there was no "specific intelligent threat" and Singapore was just dealing with a possiblescenario of a security threat, however unlikely it might be, and wanted to be prepared for any eventuality.

    He also said that Singapore was satisfied with the bilateral cooperation between the police and military forces of the two countries.

    "He (Wong) expressed Singapore's hope that the cooperation would be maintained and further upgraded in certain aspects," he said.

    The relations between the two South East Asian countries have been improved since Malaysian Prime Minister Abdulla Ahmad Badawi came into office last October. Enditem