S'pore's shipping lanes highlight maritime terrorist threat
S'pore's shipping lanes highlight maritime terrorist threat
Karl Malakunas, Agence France-Presse, Singapore
The silhouettes of hunched over figures on two wooden fishing
boats are barely visible as a Singapore navy patrol sails past
less than 200 meters away off the island-nation's southern coast.
"Now, can you tell if they are fishermen or terrorists posing
as fishermen," an RSS Independence crew member asks rhetorically
as he stands on the deck of the patrol vessel in the harsh
morning sun and shakes his head.
"It's really hard, even for the trained eye."
During more than six hours of sailing through the Singapore
Strait and into Indonesia's waters, the close encounter with the
fishing boats is just one of many incidents highlighting Asia's
vulnerability to maritime terrorism.
Hundreds of commercial and private vessels -- from oil tankers
to cruise ships, freight tankers and tiny fishing boats -- jostle
with each other for sailing and anchorage space in the crowded
Singapore Strait each day.
The strait is just one nautical mile wide at some points,
forcing vessels to sometimes sail within 50 metres of each other.
The appearance of the tiny fishing boats dodging the super-
freighters adds to the impression of chaos.
Singapore authorities are acutely aware of the terrorist
threat and have some of the best maritime security safeguards in
Asia, Andrew Tan, an assistant professor at Singapore's Institute
of Defense and Strategic Studies, told AFP.
As part of a three-pronged security operation with the police
coast guard and the maritime port authority, the Singapore navy's
11 patrol boats rotate 24 hours a day through Singapore's waters.
The navy also guards oil tankers and other vessels regarded as
being likely terrorist targets as they sail through Singapore's
waters into and out of what is one of the world's three biggest
ports, alongside Hong Kong and Rotterdam.
In addition, those ships are only allowed to anchor in
protected areas.
But despite the security measures, there is a deep sense among
those involved in maritime security that the safety net can be
easily penetrated.
"If someone wanted to ram a boat with explosives, and they had
enough horse power on something like a fishing boat, it would be
almost impossible to stop them," another RSS Independence crew
member told AFP.
"What we are doing is largely symbolic."
Aside from the Singapore waterway, regional and U.S.
authorities are focusing much more sharply on the adjoining 800-
kilometer Malacca Strait that runs between Indonesia and
Malaysia.
The Malacca Strait is one of the world's most important sea
passages, with more than 50,000 ships using it to travel from the
Indian Ocean to the South China Sea each year.
Singapore Defense Minister Teo Chee Hean warned last week when
he opened an 18-nation navy exercise here that there needed to be
far more multilateral coordination to protect the region's
waters, especially the Malacca Strait.
"What is in place today is not adequate, as it is an intensive
and complex task to safeguard regional waters against maritime
terrorism," Teo said
"If the Malacca Straits should be closed because of a
terrorist attack, the effect would be devastating.
"The impact would be felt far and wide, not just in the region
and Asia, but elsewhere in the world where countries are plugged
into the global trading system."
The Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies' Tan described
the feeling among regional security officials to the maritime
security threat as a "state of near-paranoia".
Tan said three recent specific issues had heightened concerns
that terrorists were planning to hijack a commercial ship
somewhere in the region.
The first was the brief hijacking of an Indonesian-registered
chemical tanker in Indonesian waters last year.
Tan said the assailants kidnapped the captain and first
officer, who are still missing, and practiced maneuvering the
vessel for an hour before leaving.
The second has been the theft of at least 10 tugboats in
Indonesian waters over the past two years.
The third was the attempt by a group of men to learn
underwater diving techniques at a Malaysian diving school last
year.
"But they did not want to learn how to decompress," Tan said,
echoing the tactics of the terrorists behind the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks on the United States who wanted to learn how to fly but
not land.