Piracy, Maritime Terrorism and Securing the Malacca Straits

5. Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea along the Malacca Straits: Initial Impressions from Fieldwork in the Riau Islands

68 Eric Frécon 5 Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea along the Malacca Straits: Initial Impressions from Fieldwork in the Riau Islands Eric Frécon Introduction The Franco-Spanish singer and political activist Manu Chao is very often a victim of piracy, but of the Internet kind rather than in the maritime realm. His famous Latin song “Welcome to Tijuana”, which like many popular songs today, is constantly pirated over the Internet in infringement of the laws defending intellectual property rights.Although Manu Chao makes reference to the town of Tijuana bordering between the United States and Mexico, or between “the Empire and the new Barbarians” as Jean-Christophe Rufin describes, it is a reference that can easily be applied to the issue of modern piracy in Southeast Asia.1 Indeed, to borrow his illustration, the Malacca Straits delineates a border between two particular worlds: On the one hand, the ordered world based on a nations-states system and, on the other hand, the underworld of criminal activities challenging state governance.Itisprobablyagainstthisbackground,thatindustrializedsocieties in the region such as those in Singapore and Malaysia, would regard modern05 PMaritime Terrorism Ch 5 9/28/06, 2:23 PM 68 Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea along the Malacca Straits 69 day pirates as a “sea hooligan[s]” and even a harbinger of “coming anarchy”2 developing in this kind of “grey area”, especially in the Malacca Straits.3 For this reason, the aim of this chapter is to offer another view of maritime piracy that is driven by actual field observations; specifically, from the “maritime ghettos” around the Indonesia archipelago. Hopefully, this endeavour may allow us to draw a more nuanced picture of modern SoutheastAsian piracy beyond the wealth of statistics on this phenomenon. This chapter delivers its findings from preliminary field research carried out in the Riau islands in Indonesia where pirates are often suspected to reside. The author has carried out his research by making field observations of suspected pirates in their living environment, conducting interviews with residents and collecting testimonies. The reports from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) provide useful “clues” to the field researcher and have helped to frame the work of this chapter. To a large degree, the statistics are quite correct in making the impression that a new generation of pirates is hauling up “Jolly Roger” over the Southeast Asian seas. Firstly, while the total number of reported incidents piracy and (more correctly) armed robbery against ships decreased in the first six months of 2004, from 234 during the corresponding period of 2003 to 182, the Malacca Straits showed an increase, up to 20 attacks from 15 reported in the same period in 2003.4 Pirates seem to withdraw into areas closer to their bases but some of them still go out of their den to other locations, where security is still lax. Today, the two main hot spots are generally off Aceh and off the Riau islands, at the entrance and the exit points of the Straits. Secondly, pirates seem to prefer to attack vessels that are underway rather than at berth or at anchor. This could be an outcome of the recently established IMO International Ship and Port Facility Code (ISPS). In Asia, they often attack especially vessels controlled by Indonesian or Singaporean companies. Thirdly, the IMB has reported the highest number of piracyrelated killings in a decade. The latest piracy report reveals that 30 crew members were killed in attacks — twice as many as for the same period of 2003. Some experts depict pirates as being more and more desperate and attacks are involving more groups of heavily armed people and sometimes including several boats. Some Social and Demographic Insights of Pirates Today, regional pirates tend to be young in age against the traditional or legendary stereotypes of such individuals as being much older in their 05 PMaritime Terrorism Ch 5 9/28/06, 2:23 PM 69 70 Eric Frécon years. To be sure, there are “veteran” pirates though they seem to be disappearing from the scene for various reasons such as imprisonment, retirement through old age and death. Imprisonment Against the common perception about the absence of proper law enforcement against pirates in Indonesia, the Indonesian police do actually catch pirates and send them to jail from time to time. For example, there is an individual the author interviewed, named...