Post by ferryfast admin on Mar 19, 2006 0:00:35 GMT -5
Policing makes Malacca Strait more secure, but Southeast Asian piracy remains a threat
SINGAPORE -- The specter of piracy loomed large over the Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Washington and its allies feared militants could inflict global economic devastation with a high seas assault in Southeast Asia.
Four-and-a-half years after hijackers destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon, tougher law enforcement by nations bordering the Malacca Strait has helped contain the threat of piracy, analysts say. So far, there is no hard evidence that terrorists have plotted a maritime strike.
Still, the strait -- through which vast amounts of oil pass -- remains vulnerable to piracy.
Indonesia lacks resources to patrol the vast coastline of Sumatra, part of which runs along the western side of the strait, and other islands in its vast archipelago. Any lapse in regional efforts to deter sea assaults would likely lead to more crime at sea, a centuries-old scourge.
Islamic militants are believed to have moved freely in waters north of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, about 2,000 kilometers east of the strait, en route to sanctuaries in the Philippines.
Attacks in the Malacca Strait, which lies between Indonesia's Sumatra island and peninsular Malaysia, fell to 12 in 2005 from 38 the previous year, according to a report by the International Maritime Bureau, a maritime watchdog.
There are "62,000 shipping movements" through the strait every year, said Tim Huxley, an expert on Asia-Pacific security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, based in London.
"What was a problem of some concern has now been not eradicated, but brought under control," Huxley said. "Some of the reportage on this issue over the years has given the impression that the strait is highly dangerous. The figures show that that's not the case."
With U.S. backing, more robust law enforcement appears to have deterred some pirates. The strait's littoral states -- Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore -- started joint sea patrols, and air patrols are underway. Neighboring Thailand is getting involved in the policing.
Australia is advising the Philippines on maritime surveillance amid concerns that Indonesian recruits of al-Qaida's regional ally, Jemaah Islamiyah, are sneaking into terror training camps in the southern Mindanao region. The Abu Sayyaf, another group linked to al-Qaida, operates in the area and has been blamed for numerous kidnappings and bombings.
On a trip to Indonesia last week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said one-quarter of the world's oil and trade pass through the Malacca Strait every year.
"Southeast Asia is more water than land, and maritime security is a top priority," Rice said. "We are working with Indonesia and others to close this region's waterways to drug smugglers and human traffickers, pirates and weapons proliferators."
However, bilateral disputes and sovereignty concerns could undercut cooperation. Last year, a dispute over oil fields in the Sulawesi Sea that separates Malaysia and Indonesia triggered a tense standoff between their navies.
Territorial sensitivities about a navy chasing suspected pirates into another country's waters in so-called "hot pursuit" could make it easy for criminals to slip away, said Christian LeMiere, Asia editor for Jane's Country Risk in London.
"There are doubts about the effectiveness of these patrols," LeMiere said. He noted that pirates are elusive because they operate in small, inflatable boats, often under the cover of darkness. In some cases in Indonesia, law enforcement authorities are suspected of colluding with pirates.
Some security experts have said terrorists could try to seize an oil tanker, steer it into a harbor and detonate it in a giant ball of fire. LeMiere said a more likely scenario would be the scuppering of a tanker, blocking sea traffic and creating a huge oil slick.
Another theory for the decline of piracy in the Malacca Strait is the 2005 peace agreement in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where separatists had fought for decades until the Indian Ocean tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004. The disaster devastated Aceh, prompting U.S. military ships and vessels from other navies to deliver aid to survivors.
"That brought substantial foreign naval forces into the region as part of the relief effort, and at the same time may have had some impact on the capacity of the pirates to operate," Huxley said.
The peace deal has curbed the underground arms trade that supplied the rebels, possibly depriving pirates of weapons.
Last year, the Joint War Committee of the Lloyd's Market Association put the Malacca Strait on its list of war risk areas, and some ship owners paid additional premiums for passage through the waterway. But industry leaders say many reported attacks in the region occur on moored ships of small or medium size, and amount to little more than petty theft.
"There is a very distorted definition of piracy as far as this region is concerned," said Daniel Tan, the Singapore-based secretary-general of the Federation of ASEAN Shipowners Associations. "A lot of these incidents are occurring within territorial waters, within port areas, on anchored ships."
However, attacks in the Malacca Strait can be ruthless and spectacular. The International Maritime Bureau cited an attack in June 2005 in which pirates assaulted a Thai tanker.
"Eight pirates armed with automatic guns and long knives fired warning shots at the tanker underway," the report said. "They boarded and kidnapped master and boatswain and left in a fishing boat with ship's documents."
The two crew members were released 10 days later after a ransom was paid. (AP)
March 19, 2006
SINGAPORE -- The specter of piracy loomed large over the Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Washington and its allies feared militants could inflict global economic devastation with a high seas assault in Southeast Asia.
Four-and-a-half years after hijackers destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon, tougher law enforcement by nations bordering the Malacca Strait has helped contain the threat of piracy, analysts say. So far, there is no hard evidence that terrorists have plotted a maritime strike.
Still, the strait -- through which vast amounts of oil pass -- remains vulnerable to piracy.
Indonesia lacks resources to patrol the vast coastline of Sumatra, part of which runs along the western side of the strait, and other islands in its vast archipelago. Any lapse in regional efforts to deter sea assaults would likely lead to more crime at sea, a centuries-old scourge.
Islamic militants are believed to have moved freely in waters north of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, about 2,000 kilometers east of the strait, en route to sanctuaries in the Philippines.
Attacks in the Malacca Strait, which lies between Indonesia's Sumatra island and peninsular Malaysia, fell to 12 in 2005 from 38 the previous year, according to a report by the International Maritime Bureau, a maritime watchdog.
There are "62,000 shipping movements" through the strait every year, said Tim Huxley, an expert on Asia-Pacific security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, based in London.
"What was a problem of some concern has now been not eradicated, but brought under control," Huxley said. "Some of the reportage on this issue over the years has given the impression that the strait is highly dangerous. The figures show that that's not the case."
With U.S. backing, more robust law enforcement appears to have deterred some pirates. The strait's littoral states -- Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore -- started joint sea patrols, and air patrols are underway. Neighboring Thailand is getting involved in the policing.
Australia is advising the Philippines on maritime surveillance amid concerns that Indonesian recruits of al-Qaida's regional ally, Jemaah Islamiyah, are sneaking into terror training camps in the southern Mindanao region. The Abu Sayyaf, another group linked to al-Qaida, operates in the area and has been blamed for numerous kidnappings and bombings.
On a trip to Indonesia last week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said one-quarter of the world's oil and trade pass through the Malacca Strait every year.
"Southeast Asia is more water than land, and maritime security is a top priority," Rice said. "We are working with Indonesia and others to close this region's waterways to drug smugglers and human traffickers, pirates and weapons proliferators."
However, bilateral disputes and sovereignty concerns could undercut cooperation. Last year, a dispute over oil fields in the Sulawesi Sea that separates Malaysia and Indonesia triggered a tense standoff between their navies.
Territorial sensitivities about a navy chasing suspected pirates into another country's waters in so-called "hot pursuit" could make it easy for criminals to slip away, said Christian LeMiere, Asia editor for Jane's Country Risk in London.
"There are doubts about the effectiveness of these patrols," LeMiere said. He noted that pirates are elusive because they operate in small, inflatable boats, often under the cover of darkness. In some cases in Indonesia, law enforcement authorities are suspected of colluding with pirates.
Some security experts have said terrorists could try to seize an oil tanker, steer it into a harbor and detonate it in a giant ball of fire. LeMiere said a more likely scenario would be the scuppering of a tanker, blocking sea traffic and creating a huge oil slick.
Another theory for the decline of piracy in the Malacca Strait is the 2005 peace agreement in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where separatists had fought for decades until the Indian Ocean tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004. The disaster devastated Aceh, prompting U.S. military ships and vessels from other navies to deliver aid to survivors.
"That brought substantial foreign naval forces into the region as part of the relief effort, and at the same time may have had some impact on the capacity of the pirates to operate," Huxley said.
The peace deal has curbed the underground arms trade that supplied the rebels, possibly depriving pirates of weapons.
Last year, the Joint War Committee of the Lloyd's Market Association put the Malacca Strait on its list of war risk areas, and some ship owners paid additional premiums for passage through the waterway. But industry leaders say many reported attacks in the region occur on moored ships of small or medium size, and amount to little more than petty theft.
"There is a very distorted definition of piracy as far as this region is concerned," said Daniel Tan, the Singapore-based secretary-general of the Federation of ASEAN Shipowners Associations. "A lot of these incidents are occurring within territorial waters, within port areas, on anchored ships."
However, attacks in the Malacca Strait can be ruthless and spectacular. The International Maritime Bureau cited an attack in June 2005 in which pirates assaulted a Thai tanker.
"Eight pirates armed with automatic guns and long knives fired warning shots at the tanker underway," the report said. "They boarded and kidnapped master and boatswain and left in a fishing boat with ship's documents."
The two crew members were released 10 days later after a ransom was paid. (AP)
March 19, 2006