Energy Transit States and maritime security in the Malacca Straits: the case of Singapore

This paper critically evaluates the role that Singapore plays in regional maritime security in Southeast Asia. It demonstrates that although the Malacca Strait's littoral states notionally have a common interest in maritime security politics, competition as well as cooperation has been a hallmark of Singapore's approach. To explain this, we offer a conceptual extension to the emerging scholarly literature on energy security: a typology for different types of energy transit state. Our analysis identifies Singapore as an enmeshed energy transit state, a role which imposes specific requirements on its security policy. Finally, we examine the key areas ofthreat perception, the protection of energy assets through defence policy and port rivalry, as well as Singaporean leadership roles in multilateral security initiatives. In so doing we argue that a typology of energy transit states which goes beyond a 'good-bad' dualism is potentially useful for helping us understand the behaviour of states in the Malacca Strait.