PIRACY IN SOUTH EAST ASIA

NICHOLAS NEWMAN BOOK REVIEW BY  OF:

 Pirates in Paradise: A Modern History of Southeast Asia's Maritime Marauders by Stefan Eklof

NIAS Press (1 Oct 2006) 160 pages Price: £33.00

 Stephan Eklof’s ‘Pirates in Paradise’ is a description and analysis of modern piracy today in South East Asia. Eklof paints a picture of today’s maritime criminals quite unlike that portrayed by Johnny Depp in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ or the characters in J.M.Barrie’s Peter Pan and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. It is clear from Eklof’s book, that modern day pirates are much more ruthless, violent and murderous than those portrayed for our entertainment.

 Eklof shows that piracy started to become a problem in the west in the 18^th century. In fact it is a much older problem, and even the Romans had repeated problems with this form of maritime crime. In 75 BC Julius Caesar was kidnapped and held for ransom by pirates, and in 49 AD Pliny was sent by Emperor Claudius to investigate piracy in the bay of Naples.

 So by the time of the ‘golden age of piracy’ these maritime gangsters were following a very ancient, if ignoble tradition for Eklof makes clear that most fiction writers and Hollywood films tended to glamorise this period between 1716 and 1726.It is estimated during this period some 218 vessels a year were attacked. Eklof notes that crews of target ships, once they had caught sight of the ‘Jolly Roger’ would rather surrender than die at the hands of the pirates.

 In contrast, the author paints a quite different picture of today’s situation. Modern piracy is now even more violent, bloody and ruthless and above all, takes place on a much larger scale.  In most cases, organized crime is behind the bands of marauders that prey on shipping around Asian countries. In South East Asia alone, Eklof notes, that the number of incidents reported to authorities, is an average of 368 vessels per annum, attacked at sea, at anchor or in port. However, the real figure is likely to be double that, due to a culture of underreporting within the shipping industry.

 In 2000 Japanese shipping alone suffered 34 piratical attacks on its vessels in the waters of South East Asia, costing some 1.28 billion yen. Nearly half these incidents occurred in Indonesian waters. Piratical attacks in the region in that year meant the murder of 73 sailors and the injury of 99, with 26 still missing presumed dead.

 Whilst Eklof provides a legalistic definition of piracy, it can be basically summarized as, any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of damage committed by individuals for private ends against a ship.

 The author investigates why so much of this crime takes place in the waters of S.E.Asia. Historically, the region has been on the location of a long distance maritime trade route for centuries, between Europe, India and China. The Roman Empire was importing 50 million Sesterces worth of pepper each year at the time of Augustus, an absolute fortune at the time. Eklof points out that a 5^th century Chinese Buddhist was complaining about the seas of the region being full of pirates. Today the trade that passes through the narrow straits of Malacca and Singapore, to bring you your lap top computers and flat screen televisions is valued in the many billions of dollars.

 As ships have got bigger, the crews have tended to reduce in size, making them more vulnerable to attacks. In addition governments in the region see the issue of piracy as low on their security priorities. Security forces have tended to direct their already sparse resources to other matters. The vast territorial waters of the Philippines and Indonesia make it, even at the best of times very difficult to police these territories effectively, and many neighbouring states like Singapore and Indonesia do not have extradition treaties, and are reluctant to prosecute those criminals caught in their own territorial waters for acts of piracy committed under another country's jurisdiction.

The very geography of the region provides an ideal area, with about 20,000 islands for easy access to the virtual sea motorway and concealment from the authorities. Many of these islands are officially uninhabited, much of it mountainous and covered in jungle, thus difficult to police and often in territories which are in rebellion against the central government,  as is the case of Jakarta, in dealing with the insurgency in the Aceh province, and Manila, with its rebellious territories in the Southern Philippines. Though there have been documented cases of low level government officials directly involved in piracy. Eklof is quick to dismiss corruption in the governments in the region as an explanation for the strange reluctance of politicians to give this issue a higher priority.

When the pirates have finished looting a ship, they can get usually make their escape easily, because they leave the crew imprisoned or force them off the ship before they leave (sometimes taking the captured ship with them). They can also choose which nations coastal waters they will escape to: Indonesia, Malaysia or Singapore. Some of the people in the villages and local towns on these coasts are happy to provide a friendly harbor for these criminals, along as they get their share of the cut.

Modern pirates can be roughly divided into two categories: those that operate in small gangs and large scale highly organized criminal syndicates.

The ‘modus operandi’ of small pirates gangs, Eklof has termed them ‘opportunists’, are usually interested in the ships strong box which can contain a considerable amount of money to pay port and payroll fees. The crews are most often left unharmed, and are able to continue on their way.

In contrast to the ‘opportunists’ a ship and its cargo may be identified as a target before it leaves port. Once captured at sea the crews are set adrift and the vessel sailed to a friendly port, where the port authorities will turn a ‘sympathetic’ eye. Once the cargo has been unloaded the vessel will be repainted, renamed and registered and sold.

The majority of attacks are basically muggings at sea. Eklof has divided these attacks into three basic regional traditions, each with their own specific peculiarities. In the waters of the South China Sea, Philippino pirates tend to attack armed with heavy automatic weapons and are usually especially violent.  While in the waters of the Straits of Singapore and up to the Straits of Malacca, there is a tendency for criminals to be lightly armed. In the northern end of the Straits of Malacca pirates prefer to be heavily armed and kidnap crew and passengers for ransom, so carrying on a practice with which Julius Caesar would be familiar.

A typical description of a piratical attack is to pull up alongside a ship, point a rocket-propelled grenade at the hull, and demand a payoff.  A little more elaborate attack involves two or more fishing boats waiting on each side of a shipping lane at night. They often stretch a cable across the lane in the dark, and when a vessel passes through, the cable catches on the bow, and the boats get dragged along.  The pirates then quietly scramble up along the sides with grappling hooks, steal anything of value and make their escape before the crew has time to react.

Other piratical activity is on a much larger scale, is much more organized, and sometimes linked to another criminal organization. Reports in regional papers like the ‘Straits Times’ have reported two Singaporean businessmen funding Indonesian pirates operating in the Malacca Straits. There is mounting concern over the sharp rise in the number of such attacks in the South China Sea in 2000, and the ‘South China Morning Post’ uncovered evidence suggesting that Hong Kong-based individuals play a key role in masterminding the syndicates that are spreading increasing terror on the high seas.  Hong Kong's role as a global shipping and trade center makes it an ideal location for organized criminal gangs engaging in piracy and often with links to local triads. Hong Kong also appears to be providing a base for the newer practice of diverting stolen cargoes and "phantom ships" to the mainland.   

A more complicated and large scale form of piracy involves a complex procedure being carried out by local crime syndicates. This involves a commodity seller or shipping agent with a letter of credit that has almost expired (this happens regularly since the demand for shipping space exceeds that which is available). Then the pirate’s offer the services of their ship (which is often stolen, renamed, etc. before being used in this manner). A temporary registration certificate is then acquired through a registration office at a consulate. To get such a certificate a bribe, combined with verbal information or some false documents, is necessary. This certificate provides the ship with an official (new) identity. The ship is loaded and the shipper receives his bill of lading. Then the pirate’s then sail to a different port than the one named as the destination on the bill of lading. There they unload the cargo to a partner in crime or an unsuspecting buyer and change the temporary registration certificate again. Often the perpetrators of such crimes have been ex-military or affiliated with organized crime.

Nationals from all nations in South East Asia are involved in piracy often exhibiting a high degree of operational cooperation. This is ironically in contrast to the lack of cooperation exhibited by the countries involved in tackling the crimes of piracy!

In terms of the numbers arrested, citizens from Indonesia and the Philippines seem to be the main participants. Those in the Philippines tend to come from the southern provinces of this country, which has been for centuries, a haven for piracy in the region. In the days before steam, the monsoon season in Peninsula Malaysia was known as the ‘Pirate Season’, since the wind not only brought the rains but the pirates from the Philippines.

The pirates that operate in the Straits of Singapore from the Indonesian controlled Riau Archipelago tend to be a mix of locals and economic migrants, who have been attracted to the area because of the development of enormous industrial estates by Singapore investors.

Any attempts to tackle this problem of piracy have been handicapped by the actions of stakeholders, Eklof makes clear. There are ship owners who prefer not to report matters, because it will lead to the ship being delayed in port. There are states that protest at help from the major world powers, since they see it as an infringement on their sovereignty. Add to this the refusal of many in the shipping industry to help directly fund security measures, leaving the burden on the local taxpayer. It seems that part of the shipping industry is ‘freeloading’ from efforts by states to tackle the problem, by refusing to accept the principle that they need to help fund such operations, from which they might eventually benefit.

Some observers have suggested it is time that a toll should be paid by ships using the Straits that divide Malaysia, Singapore with Indonesia. This idea has been strongly resisted by the industry, but this concept is not unknown to the maritime industry, for after all, ships pay for the usage of the Panama and Suez canals. Such a toll could help improve not only security, but the increasingly sophisticated traffic control measures that are needed to handle the ever increasing levels of traffic going through the Straits of Singapore and Malacca, as well as dealing with the inevitable environmental problems that arises from such traffic.

Other measures that have aided efforts to combat piratical attacks have included increased vigilance of ships crews, adoption of electric fences around the side of the ship, the setting up of the International Maritime Bureau, to act as a reporting centre, and the introduction of new maritime security rules that came into force recently, including the installation of the Automatic Identification System equipment on all large commercial vessels, so that security forces can track the location of ships. This has led to a reduction in attacks on large vessels, but unfortunately to an increase of attacks on smaller vessels that have been able to apply these security measures.

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