JAKARTA -- Indonesia and Singapore will increase cooperation to combat "chronic" sea piracy on their borders, Indonesian national police chief General Da'i Bachtiar said Friday.

"Sea piracy is chronic and it will always exist.

Because of that we have to cooperate closely," Bachtiar told AFP.

He was speaking after President Megawati Sukarnoputri awarded medals to the visiting Malaysian and Singaporean police chiefs, Malaysia's Inspector General Norian Mai and Singapore Police Commissioner Khoo Boon Hui.

Khoo said the medal "reflects the close cooperation between Singapore and Indonesia" in the fight against transnational crime.

Norian said intensive cooperation between Malaysian and Indonesian police was "bearing fruit". He did not elaborate.

Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines in May sealed a trilateral security pact in a bid to bolster cooperation to combat terrorism and cross-border crime in the region.

Pirate attacks have increased significantly in recent years in Southeast Asia's Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest waterways.

The piracy reporting center, in its annual report for last year, said there were 335 actual or attempted pirate attacks in 2001.

Indonesia was the world's most pirate-prone nation with 91 incidents and another 17 occurred in the Malacca Strait.

The report said the Strait had seen remarkable drop in the number of piracy attacks, compared to 75 in 2000.

It credited vigilant patrols, especially by Malaysian marine police.