Malaysia and Vietnam must urgently work towards ridding their waters of illegal fishing, analysts said on Tuesday, as Hanoi pressed Kuala Lumpur for answers after a Vietnamese fisherman was shot dead by Malaysian maritime officials over the weekend.  The incident occurred late on Sunday after Malaysia’s coastguard attempted to inspect two boats in waters east of Kelantan deemed to be engaged in illegal fishing.

Dr Collin Koh, a Research Fellow at Singapore’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said “Vietnam does need to keep a tighter rein on its fishing community”. “There had been earlier warning signs leading up to this latest, most serious incident,” he said