PKR's Lumut MP Mohamad Imran Abd Hamid has questioned why the government is keeping silent about the recent presence of Chinese ships in Malaysian waters.

"According to reports, in the first two months of 2017, three ships from China were found patrolling the Luconia Shoals (Beting Patinggi Ali), 145 kilometres from Sarawak and 1,600 kilometres from mainland China.

"Following this breach, I would like to ask why the Defence Ministry, under Hishammuddin Hussein, is keeping quiet and refusing to respond in any way to this situation, which concerns the sovereignty of our country's waters?" Mohamad Imran said in a statement today.

The government and the Defence Ministry should be stricter when it comes to guarding the waters of Sarawak, he said.

Mohamad Imran, who is a retired Navy First Admiral, also pointed out that China has been pursuing the expansion of their borders based on "so-called history", carving out a map of the South China Sea using the "nine-dash line".

Part of their demands, he said, include the Luconia Shoals (Beting Patinggi Ali) in Sarawak. 

Beting Patinggi Ali, which is located about 80 nautical miles from Tanjung Baram, is clearly in the Exclusive Economic Zone and rightfully belongs to Malaysia based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, he said. 

Even Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim himself had once said that China's demands, based on "history", were not valid, Mohamad Imran pointed out.

"So, what is the result of the diplomatic objection made against China several years ago?" he asked.

He urged the government to be more stringent when it comes to protecting Malaysia's nautical borders, as it is a serious matter.

"If we act nonchalant towards China's aggressive actions, it might lead to tensions in the future. Do we want to see another dramatic series of geopolitical tension in this region?" he asked.

To make things worse, he said, this issue will also negatively affect local fishermen's livelihoods.

There have been reports in the past few years of local fishermen being chased out of Beting Patinggi Ali by ships from China, he said.

"Do we want to see our local fishermen lose their livehood because the source of their income is blocked by foreigners?" Mohamad Imran asked.