Indonesia Declares War on Marauding Pirates

Without a sound, eight masked men armed with machetes, hunting knives and an assault rifle storm aboard the cargo vessel MV Pioneer in the Malacca Straits. They get control of the ship and crew within minutes.

Less than 20 minutes later, Indonesian navy commandos seize the ship back. Then they sit down to lunch with the “pirates,” swapping jokes and congratulations on another successful anti-piracy exercise.

If only it went this way in real life. Actual pirate attacks end less often with triumphant arrests than with dead crew members and stolen cargoes.

Last year, a record 469 piracies were reported worldwide--up 56% from 1999 and more than four times the number reported in 1991. About 72 crew members were killed and 99 injured in 2000, up from 3 killed and 24 injured a year earlier.

More than a third of last year’s attacks occurred in or around Indonesian waters.

That has the Indonesian navy keen to show the world that it is doing something about the problem. International Maritime Bureau statistics show that the number of piracy attacks in Indonesian waters declined this year, with 71 attacks and attempted attacks reported in the first nine months of 2001, compared with 90 in the same period last year.

Maj. Mohammed Zainal, a navy spokesman, says the navy is stepping up its anti-piracy training and will have more piracy drills like the one staged aboard the MV Pioneer, which was witnessed by invited foreign journalists.

The navy is also setting up a new anti-piracy center in Bangka on Sumatra Island to join with the two current bases, one near the Sumatran city of Medan and the other on Batam, a small Indonesian island within sight of Singapore’s bustling port.

But Indonesia’s 13,000 islands are difficult for the cash-strapped nation to patrol.

The navy says it needs 239 ships and 115 aircraft to safeguard the nation’s waters effectively, but Adm. Franky Kaihatu puts the current inventory at just 115 vessels and 60 aircraft.

Until the Indonesian government can afford to revitalize the navy, all the commandos can do is practice and hope real life runs as smoothly as their exercises.