Cooperation needed to fight piracy

Cooperation needed to fight piracy

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Piracy in Asia has risen sharply since the
region's financial crisis and continues virtually unchecked, as
governments and international bodies talk about tackling the
problem but struggle to translate words into action, analysts
said on Wednesday.

"In maritime crime, piracy and armed robbery have given Asia a
bad name," Malaysia's First Adm. Noor Azman Othman said at a
conference on conflict reduction in the Asia-Pacific.

According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirate attacks
reported in the region tripled between 1991 and 1999. The 300
attacks in the Asia-Pacific were more than a third of the total
number worldwide.

The U.S. Coast Guard estimates that high-sea piracy costs
about US$450 million a year. Add onto that the indirect costs of
higher freight and insurance charges, officials say.

The problem is getting worse. In 2000, attacks increased by 56
percent to an all-time high of 469. Figures for the first three
months of 2001 show the trend is continuing.

In another worrying trend, hit-and-run attacks by armed
robbers who shimmy up rope ladders to raid cargo ships' safes and
the pockets of crew are increasingly common, says the bureau, a
privately-funded watchdog body.

"Generally, these crimes have gone unchecked," Noor said, in a
written address to the Asia-Pacific Roundtable, a meeting of more
than 200 academics, bureaucrats and businesspeople from 22
countries.

The achipelagic waters of Indonesia and the Philippines are
the most dangerous, along with the Malacca Straits, the narrow
channel between the Malay peninsula and Indonesia.

"The increasing piracy in 2000, most notably in Indonesia and
the Malacca Strait, reflects both the economic and political
instability ashore in Indonesia and a tendency to increased
violence," Stanley Weeks, an expert with the U.S.-based Science
Applications International Corp., said in his address.

Economic and social instability begun when Asian economies
starting crashing in 1997 have pushed some Southeast Asians into
piracy. They have also helped stifle efforts to organize a
multilateral approach to fighting it, analysts say.

Chief among these blockages are international laws which
prevent one country's authorities from catching criminals in
another's territory. This allows raiders to strike in one country
and escape to safety in the waters of another. Apathy and limited
resources are also problems.

"Not every state shares the same aspirations nor is fully
committed in combating the crime, as there are more important
priorities on the security agenda," Noor said.

Despite clear evidence that joint exercises and can
drastically cut piracy rates, "there is clear scope for greater
cooperation of naval and coast forces on the high seas," said
Weeks.

One such plan was announced by Japan on Wednesday. The Coast
Guard said it will send armed patrol ships to Southeast Asia four
times a year to help fight piracy. Details of the plan are still
being worked out.

Since March 2000, at least nine international conferences have
been held to discuss piracy and transnational crime in Asia,
bringing together both government and private sector delegates.

But success has been patchy. Governments continue to differ on
how their waters should be policed, and have resisted giving
foreign armed forces access to their territory.

"Offensive action against sea robbers is best to be
unilaterally undertaken by the state that harbors them," said
Noor.

Weeks said both increased bilateral and multilateral
cooperation is clearly necessary, and warned that skepticism
about the effectiveness of the ASEAN Regional Forum would
increase if it fails to address the " clear and present danger of
piracy."

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations meets
regularly, and holds group talks with China, North Korea and
Japan.