Piracy, Maritime Terrorism and Securing the Malacca Straits

6. The Politics of Anti-Piracy and Anti-Terrorism Responses in Southeast Asia

84 Mark J. Valencia 6 The Politics of Anti-Piracy and Anti-Terrorism Responses in Southeast Asia1 Mark J. Valencia Introduction Since the events of 11 September 2001, the fear of linkages between pirates and “terrorists” in Southeast Asia has been reflected in the mass media and government policy statements, both within and outside the region.2 But some argue that piracy and terrorism have different causes, motives, objectives and tactics, and thus require different responses.3 This chapter explores the politics of anti-piracy and terrorism efforts in and for Southeast Asia, including the conflation of the two phenomena. Regarding conflation of piracy and terrorism, opinions continue to be sharply divided. Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert and senior advisor at the RAND Corporation says: “I don’t think that it is appropriate to blend the increasing problem of piracy with the potentially more dangerous consequences of terrorism.”4 Similarly, Captain P.K. Mukundan, Director of the IMB, agrees that there was nothing to show that terrorists and pirates have joined up. There is a terrorist threat to the Straits of Malacca, and that is fair comment, but that 06 PMaritime Terrorism Ch 6 9/28/06, 2:24 PM 84 The Politics of Anti-Piracy and Anti-Terrorism Responses 85 will be done by terrorists not pirates. There are politically motivated groups attacking ships off the northern coast of Sumatra and the Southern Philippines as well as Somalia, but their objectives are different to piracy. Admiral Thomas Fargo, the then U.S. Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific and the proposer of the controversial Regional Maritime Security Initiative (RMSI) — which surfaced in the media in April 2004 — to combat piracy, terrorism and WMD smuggling, has stated that “U.S. intelligence services have found no evidence that pirates operating in the Straits of Malacca have links to terror networks in Southeast Asia.”5 Even Malaysia’s Internal Security Department Deputy Minister Chia Kwang Chye has said “while the threat of piracy against ships continues to cause concern, there is no proof that pirates have terror links.”6 While some alarmists point to the kidnappings off Sumatra and the disappearance of tugs in Indonesia as evidence that pirates and “terrorists” are joining hands, officials in Malaysia and Indonesia explain the kidnappings as a means for the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM) — the separatist movement in the province of Aceh in North Sumatra — to raise money for its struggle, and that the tugs are being stolen to be used for smuggling.7 On the other hand, there has been a rise in kidnap and ransom cases in the northern Malacca Straits.8 These incidents have been attributed to the GAM. In June 2004, the Indonesian Navy killed three GAM rebels who were trying to hijack a Pertamina tanker, the MV Pematang, near Behala Island, off North Sumatra.9 And the head of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Elthimios Mitropoulos said international action may be necessary to counter the threat from a “nexus of terrorism and piracy in the Malacca and Singapore Straits”.10 Meanwhile Singapore, led by Tony Tan, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, maintains a drumbeat of concern regarding both terrorist attacks in the Straits and the linkage with pirates.11 A compromise view has been expressed by Peter Chalk, another RAND analyst, who acknowledges that there is no hard evidence tying terrorists and pirates but believes such co-operation is logical. “Pirates and criminal syndicates could ‘contract out’ their maritime expertise to terrorists, hijacking a ship to be used for smuggling, or as a weapon or to cause a collision. They could also provide training in ship boarding or even their operation.”12 Piracy and Terrorism: Similarities and Differences Clearly there is some overlap in the definitions of piracy/sea robbery and “terrorism” in that they both can and often do involve violence at sea. 06 PMaritime Terrorism Ch 6 9/28/06, 2:24 PM 85 86 Mark J. Valencia “However, piracy and sea robbery are illegal acts committed for private gain while terrorism is an illegal act committed with the intent of influencing a government or a polity, i.e., it has a political objective.” And “piracy on the high seas is a universal crime and can be repressed by any nation while repression of terrorism on the high seas is legally confined to particular nations and circumstances.”13 Moreover the tactics of piracy and terrorism are...