Southeast Asian Economic Ills Encourage a Plague of Piracy

Two small fishing boats draw a rope across the path of a freighter, letting the big ship’s motion pull them forward and swing them alongside.

Grappling hooks are pitched up the three-story height of the cargo ship, and a dozen men from each boat, masked and armed with machetes or pistols, scramble up rope ladders to the deck.

The attackers tie up the crew and raid the ship’s safe, bridge and radio room for electrical equipment, cash and anything else they can carry, even wallets and watches.

Although the Malacca Straits have long been among the world’s most dangerous shipping lanes for pirate attacks, this kind of raid--its description compiled from reports by pirate-chasing authorities and victims of actual attacks--was unheard of four years ago, before Indonesia crashed into economic and political turmoil.

Now the narrow passage between the Indonesian island of Sumatra on one side and Malaysia and Singapore on the other is suffering what even the most hardened piracy-watchers consider an epidemic of attacks, fueled by desperate villagers choosing piracy over poverty.

One-third of the 68 piracy attacks reported in the first three months of this year were off the Indonesian archipelago’s 13,000 islands, the International Maritime Bureau says.

Worldwide, pirate attacks reported to the Malaysia-based watchdog group reached an all-time high of 269 in 2000, up almost 60% from the previous year. The bureau, a division of the International Chamber of Commerce financed by commercial ship operators and insurers, estimates only half of pirate attacks are reported.

The sharpest spike was in Southeast Asia, where more than a third of the world’s ocean trade passes through the territory of half a dozen countries. Operators say international insurance and freight costs are in danger of spiraling upward because of the threat.

The waters include the Malacca Straits and other shipping lanes that lie along the coasts of Indonesia and the Philippines, both poor and rife with turmoil. Between them, they encompass 20,000 islands.

In a report at the end of April, the bureau repeated a conclusion of many recent reports: Chronic political instability in Indonesia has loosened the government’s control of far-flung provinces and made law enforcement difficult, while also creating poverty that feeds piracy.

The Philippines, another country racked by political strife, was also criticized by the group.

Governments with an interest in the region agree that rising piracy poses a threat to trade and overall security and that the best way to deal with it is through regional cooperation.

But territorial disputes, government inertia, financial constraints since the 1997-98 Asian economic crisis and sensitivity to the potential disclosure that corrupt officials are involved has made cooperation as difficult as navigating the region’s twisting channels and changing currents.

Piracy “is a significant problem that deserves a regional solution at the highest levels,” said John Brandon, assistant director of the San Francisco-based Asia Foundation, which watches Asia-U.S. relations.

He said it should be at the top of the agenda of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations, and raised when the group’s foreign ministers meet with their counterparts from Asia’s most powerful countries and the United States in July.

“Piracy does offer an opportunity for the governments of Southeast Asia to work together at a time when ASEAN lacks cohesion,” Brandon said.

The United States, one of the largest naval powers in the Pacific, has not paid much attention to the problem, nor has China, he said.

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On board the Malaysian Maritime Police patrol boat KPD Balong, officers load machine guns mounted on the control tower before starting an overnight patrol.

“It’s just a precaution,” Executive Officer Salim Abrahim says.

This night, the Balong will travel 160 nautical miles, passing the island city-state of Singapore before heading north to the historic Malaysian port of Penang and back.

The 142-foot ship acts as a control vessel for Malaysian piracy patrol craft, which also include four speedboats painted black and manned by commandos specially trained to chase pirates.

When the Balong’s skipper, Deputy Supt. Samsuri Samusi, orders two boats to pull up alongside, officers break out M-16s and man the machine guns, standing guard while another goes aboard and opens the holds looking for evidence of piracy or people-smuggling, another frequent crime. This time, nothing suspicious is found and the boats are released.

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Three hundred ships a day pass through the Straits, where Malaysia and Indonesia are so close that the trees in the jungle on either side can be made out from the narrow strip of international waters in the middle.

In 1997 no attacks were reported in the Straits; in 2000 there were 73. Only Bangladesh and India reported comparable increases, from 9 to 55 and 15 to 35 respectively.

“Not most--all--of the pirates come from the Indonesian side,” said Aziz Yusof, the Marine Police’s southern district chief. “They are gangs. They rob anything.”

In its report this year, the maritime bureau reported a worrying trend: Robin Hood-style pirates in Indonesian waters are sharing their loot with poor villagers, who in turn shield the robbers from authorities.

Malaysian police have 52 patrol boats, only 10 of which are on the water at any one time. They stop and search unidentified boats, checking licenses and fishing permits. Similar operations are carried out by Singapore and Indonesia.

“The ratio is 10 of our boats to 300 ships,” Aziz said with a shrug. “We can’t protect every ship.”

Competing jurisdictions mean Aziz’s men are limited in what they can do if they cross the invisible line between international waters and Indonesian territory, even if they are in pursuit of pirates.

“We can chase, but we must alert Indonesia, and as soon as they arrive in the area, we must stop,” he said. Aziz declined to comment about allegations that some Indonesian officials protect raiders for a share of the profits.

The Indonesian government concedes many of the pirates in the Malacca Straits are from Indonesia, but contends it lacks funds and international cooperation.