A Japanese maritime safety expert chided Southeast Asian countries on Tuesday for failing to cooperate fully in the fight against pirate attacks in their waters. Hiroshi Terashima, executive director of The Nippon Foundation, told a conference on piracy that more than 80 percent of Japan's oil imports pass through the narrow Malacca Strait between Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, and it was vital it was kept safe. Attacks on ships jumped by 57 percent worldwide in 2000 with more than half of the incidents in Southeast Asian waters. Terashima told the conference that cooperation in fighting pirates in the Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest sea lanes, was essential. But he said cooperation was not good.