I refer to the letters arguing, both for and against, letting foreign naval forces into our waters. The principle of national sovereignty is not negotiable, so letting the US Navy patrol the Straits of Malacca is out of the question.

That said, the Malaysian authorities should have the political will and courage to deal with piracy in the Straits of Malacca and in Malaysian waters off East Malaysia irrespective of whatever the Philippines or Indonesian governments may say.

The problem Malaysia faces is a shortage of patrol boats capable of reaching the scene of the crime in time before the pirates escaped into Indonesian or Filipino waters. Malaysia needs to get more patrol boats if it proposes to use the Royal Malaysian Navy as a sort of coastguard.

Malaysia should adopt a strategy of having torpedo-armed fast attack boats like the British motor torpedo boats, the American PT boats and the German E-boats during World War II. These should be backed-up by helicopters equipped with Gattling cannons and air-to-sea missiles as well as fighter-bombers.

To protecting the straits, the fighter-bombers should be stationed and be ready to scramble at short notice from airfields or airports in Penang, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Johor. The helicopters should be based at multiple locations along the coast, while the fast patrol boats undertake active patrols in the straits.

Upon the report of a pirate attack, the fighter-bombers and helicopters should rush to the scene and fire upon and sink the pirates' vessel while it is in Malaysian waters. The fast patrol boats can then pick up survivors for interrogation - if there are any.

Now, if the offending vessel happens to be an Indonesian or Philippines military or police vessel with their military or police, then if it's sunk and its crew killed while committing piracy in Malaysian waters then the respective governments have no right to complain. Malaysia should take a firm stand on this.

Now, if anyone accuses me of having watched too many war movies, I ask them what the US Navy would have done in dealing with pirates had they been allowed to patrol the straits.

In fact, none of the letter writers on this issue have mentioned what the US Navy would do. But it's highly unlikely they would just be saying: 'Stop. Poh-leese.'

I'd imagine the Americans would do something like what I've described above. So why doesn't Malaysia do the same thing but without American involvement.

I'm sure the incidence or piracy will drop dramatically after the first few instances of the dramatic scenarios described above.

Of course, if the United States wants to help, it can supply missiles and ammunition with no strings attached to the Malaysian Armed Forces to help the latter fight piracy in the straits and off Sabah.