All on board for maritime security

All on board for maritime security

The Straits Times, Asia News Network, Singapore

Malaysia's agreement with Singapore last week to work more
closely together to enhance maritime security and fight terrorism
is another piece of good news, after naval vessels from the two
countries and Indonesia began their first coordinated patrols in
the Strait of Malacca.

Indeed, greater cooperation in the Malacca and Singapore
straits is likely to go beyond the coordinated patrols. Just how
will be known after security and defense officials from the two
countries meet soon. These moves have far-reaching implications.
Every year, 50,000 ships carry half the world's oil supply and a
third of global trade through the Malacca Strait.

Yet, the area is one of the most dangerous, as figures from
the mercantile trade's International Maritime Bureau (IMB) show.
Not only did pirate attacks in the Malacca and Singapore straits
go up from 15 to 27 in the first six months of the year, but the
rise was put in alarming perspective by the decline of such
attacks elsewhere in the world.

The latest moves by the three countries send out a clear
signal to pirates that they are up against a combined will to
combat a common threat. What is receding is the acrimony that
bruised feelings among the neighbors when the possibility of
United States forces helping to patrol the waters was broached.

The next step would be to move from coordinated patrols, in
which each navy patrols its own territorial waters in
coordination with its counterparts, to joint patrols. The key
point is whether hot pursuit into territorial waters would be
permitted to apprehend pirates.

It is not a small detail that IMB figures show there were 50
attacks within Indonesian waters, and these accounted for more
than a quarter of 182 attacks worldwide. Joint patrols would help
the littoral countries to tackle such problems. The issue of
sovereignty, however, appears to be blocking the way. Arguing
that territorial integrity must be respected, Malaysian Deputy
Prime Minister Najib Razak has ruled out joint patrols for the
time being.

But this does not mean that coordinated patrols cannot evolve
into something even more substantive. The Malaysian navy chief,
for example, has mooted the idea of a "convoy protection scheme"
to escort vulnerable merchant vessels along the 900km-long
waterway. That could be a start.

In any case, what should drive cooperation forward is the
changing nature of piracy. In September last year, the IMB
released a report warning that gangs of heavily-armed pirates
using fishing and speed boats were targeting small oil tankers in
the Malacca Strait. What was disturbing was that the attacks were
following a pattern set by Acehnese rebels.

Unlike criminals who attacked ships purely for the money, what
was occurring was "political piracy" carried out by rebels
seeking to fund their cause by holding hostages for ransom.
"Political piracy threatens to rewrite the rules of engagement,"
Captain Pottengal Mukundan of the IMB commented then. He noted
that politically-motivated pirates were prepared to take greater
risks to further their cause. The IMB asked the authorities to
recognize the motives behind these crimes and adopt new methods
of deterring them.

Unfortunately, the problem persists, as is seen in the eight
serious incidents that took place in the northern Malacca Strait
within 12 days from June 4. The consequences would be
catastrophic if terrorists were to team up with politically-
driven pirates. Preventing it is a common regional
responsibility.