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)