Malaysia's main opposition party today urged the government to call an emergency meeting with Indonesia in a bid to end pirate attacks in the Malacca Straits.

Malaysian fishermen were living under a "reign of fear and terror" after a series of kidnappings by Indonesian pirates, Democratic Action Party leader Lim Kit Siang said in a statement.

In the latest raid, three prawn fishermen were abducted from their boats off the coast of western Perak state in a pre-dawn raid Monday by pirates armed with automatic weapons and speaking an Indonesian dialect.

Lim said the pirates were demanding a ransom of RM100,000 for each fisherman.

Last month, pirates believed to be Indonesians kidnapped four Thai fishermen in the straits off Malaysia's northern Penang state and demanded ransom of RM40,000.

Lim urged the government to set up a special squad to protect fishermen in the straits, and to "convene an emergency meeting with the Indonesian authorities to end the rampant piracy".

New paramilitary force

The straits, which separate peninsular Malaysia from the Indonesian island of Sumatra, carry half the world's oil and a third of its trade and the United States has raised concerns that shipping could also be vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Malaysia, which has assured the US and neighbouring Singapore that every effort is being made to ensure security, on Monday said it would deploy a new paramilitary force in its territorial waters as a law enforcement body in peacetime and a combatant during war.

The new agency, to be placed under armed forces jurisdiction to help defend Malaysia in an emergency, crisis or war, is due to begin operations next March.

The London-based International Maritime Bureau says Indonesia has the worst record for piracy in the world, and last month warned shipowners to avoid passing or anchoring along the coast of Aceh in Sumatra, describing the area as "particularly risky" for hijackings. - AFP