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1. Roots of Contemporary Maritime Piracy in Southeast Asia by Adam J. Young
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Roots of Maritime Piracy in Southeast Asia 1 1 Roots of Contemporary Maritime Piracy in Southeast Asia1 Adam J. Young Introduction Much research has been directed at examining contemporary maritime piracy in Southeast Asia from the perspectives of maritime security, as a non-traditional security threat, a “grey area phenomenon”, and through non-traditional security theory such as “human security”.2 This research has provided many useful insights into the nature of contemporary piracy in Southeast Asia, and is at the heart of a growing effort to combat this resurgent phenomenon. However historical context is often lacking, or treated in broad generalizations, surreptitiously linking phenomena over vast stretches of time.3 Moreover, there appears to be little attempt in modern piracy literature dealing with Southeast Asia to conceptualize piracy within the socio-political and cultural framework of Southeast Asia itself. In particular, authors frequently try to reconcile Southeast Asian piracy, currently the most prolific in the world, through definitions of piracy that evolved in a particular Western colonial and legal tradition.4 Similarly, historical accounts of piracy are frequently isolated from 01 Piracy Ch 1 6/6/05, 2:40 PM 1 2 Adam J. Young contemporary circumstances, making them quite literally “academic” in their application to policy.5 In order to better understand contemporary manifestations of piracy in Southeast Asia, and the context from which it has emerged, the historical context of piracy and its links to modern piracy need to be more fully explored. Some notable works in recent years have moved in this direction.6 However, the majority of both academic and policy literature on piracy seems largely uninformed about the other. This chapter seeks to help bridge the gap between historical context and policy analysis, and from this broader understanding, suggest ways and means of addressing the root causes of contemporary maritime piracy in Southeast Asia. Contemporary maritime piracy in Southeast Asia has been heavily influenced by modern economic, political, and social forces. Processes of globalization, with its high speed information networks linking parties across the globe, expanding economic development, and growing interdependence, are shaping the modern world, including piracy. However, contemporary piracy did not evolve in a vacuum separated from historical context. Indeed maritime piracy has been a reality in Southeast Asia since at least the fifth century C.E, when a Chinese pilgrim returning home from India via Southeast Asia mentioned piracy in the Strait of Malacca.7 The activities being referred to as piracy 1,500 years ago were an intrinsic part of a complex social web, with elements of political and economic competition, as well as social status, common through much of maritime Southeast Asia.8 Piracy has waxed and waned over the centuries according to the flow of local and global trade, and the power of regional polities to control this trade and exert their influence in the region. This is particularly exemplified by the the competition over expanding trade, from the fifth century as the Srivijayan Kingdom emerged in the southern reaches of the Strait of Malacca, to the nineteenth century, and more recently, over the last 30 years as Southeast Asia has experienced rapid economic development. In all these eras piracy has existed beyond the control of any state. But why has piracy persisted in Southeast Asia from the remote fifth century to today? What are the continuities linking past and present? What are the discontinuities that establish each form of “piracy” as a unique manifestation of its times? What allowed piracy to thrive in the past, and why has it resurfaced as a significant security concern today? What are the roots of contemporary maritime piracy in Southeast Asia, and what do the answers to these questions suggest in the 01 Piracy Ch 1 6/6/05, 2:40 PM 2 [44.195.30.216] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 12:07 GMT) Roots of Maritime Piracy in Southeast Asia 3 way of responses to its contemporary manifestation? These are some of the questions this chapter will try to address. Western and Southeast Asian Cultural and Historical Contexts of Piracy The Western Context Defining “piracy” is problematic. Indeed the word piracy has been variously used to describe everything from enemy combatants to common criminals.9 The complexity of the term piracy as a social construct would appear to make analysis of actual phenomena labelled as piracy problematic. But analysing how understandings differ, and how they have changed over time and place, provides a way to avoid some of the...