Navy unable to curb crimes in Malacca Strait

Navy unable to curb crimes in Malacca Strait

JAKARTA (JP): The Navy conceded on Friday it was unable to
curb growing piracy, smuggling activities and other crimes along
the busy Straits of Malacca.

Chief of the Navy Western Fleet overseeing the country's
western sea waters, Rear Adm. Indroko Sastrowiryono said that its
inability was not due to a lack of effort but to limited
resources such as equipment shortages.

Indroko pointed out that the Navy was running short of patrol
ships and sophisticated equipment to fight these crimes in
Indonesian waters and along the straits.

"We need 10 to 15 patrol ships, sophisticated equipment such
as radar and modern weapons and an adequate number of personnel
to monitor the busy traffic along the strait," he told
journalists here on Friday.

He said several patrol ships stationed around the Riau
archipelago, usually assigned to patrol the straits, had to be
deployed to the restive province of Aceh. He declined to reveal
the number of warships and patrol boats operating along the
straits.

Navy chief Adm. Achmad Sutjipto said on Thursday that he
needed 239 ships and 114 aircraft to safeguard the nation's
waters effectively.

Indonesia's naval fleet numbers 114 vessels -- some dating
back to the 1940s -- and 53 aircraft of all types.

Indroko said the Navy frequently received complaints from
Japan and many European countries over increasing piracy in the
waters around the straits, but they themselves declined to
furnish necessary equipment to help curb it.

He said that besides launching regular operations, the Navy
was setting up an operations center in Batam to monitor the
passage of all ships through the busy shipping lane.

"The Western Fleet will also launch operations to clamp down
on attacks on ships plying the route," he said without
elaborating.

He called on all vessels going through the waters, especially
those facing attacks by hijackers, to make contact with the
operations center for urgent aid.

The International Maritime Bureau's latest survey revealed
recently that 19 pirate attacks were recorded in the straits in
the first three months of this year. They number one-third of all
maritime crimes worldwide, making the waters the most dangerous
in the world.

According to data at Western Fleet Headquarters, from 1999 to
April 2000, the fleet detained 126 foreign ships fishing
illegally in Indonesian waters and eleven ships trying to smuggle
logs and tins overseas. It also noted 37 sea accidents, leaving
30 dead and 34 missing.

Indroko, also former chief of the Western Naval Combat
Command, admitted that the Western Fleet had long detected the
smuggling of fuel by foreign ships from Jakarta but was unable to
do much to curb it because of the absence of coordination with
other government institutions.

"So far, we have yet to arrest tankers loading fuel from
Indonesian barges off Jakarta Bay," he said.

Over the last four months, owners of dozens of tankers
believed to contain smuggled fuel could not be prosecuted because
they had necessary documents in hand, he said.

He cited, for example, a recent case where the Navy handed
over two foreign flagged tankers suspected of smuggling fuel to
government prosecutors, only to have them later released for
inadequate evidence.

He stressed that the Navy and its officials were not involved
in the much reported fuel smuggling.

"The Navy will certainly take harsh action if its officers are
found guilty of backing up the fuel smuggling," he said.

Asked to comment on President Abdurrahman Wahid's recent
instruction to seize a Singaporean line cruiser suspected of
being used for gambling in the Thousand Islands, just off
Jakarta, Indroko said three fast patrol vessels were immediately
deployed to chase it.

"A day after the instruction was given, we were informed that
the ship was already in Singapore," he said. (rms)