Piracy is a 21st century problem

The Malacca Strait between Indonesia and Malaysia is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, a fact that has not been overlooked by modern-day pirates. Yes, they still exist. They might not be wearing peg legs or eye patches, but piracy is a very real issue that has international and political implications.

Almost 40 known acts of piracy were recorded around the Malacca Strait last year, but such incidents almost disappeared after the deadly tsunami struck the entire area in December, possibly killing some of the pirates or destroying their boats. They also probably had to lay low due to the presence of armed international military personnel in the area helping with relief efforts.

But just this past week, there has been a sharp rise in the number of people attacked at sea. About a week ago, two yachts were attacked by modern-pirates firing automatic weapons and a running gun battle ensued between crew members and pirates.

Last Saturday, approximately 35 heavily armed pirates— some carrying automatic weapons and rocket launchers (other pirates still prefer to carry knives or machetes— boarded an Indonesian-owned oil tanker in the Malacca Strait and kidnapped the captain and a crew member.

This was followed Monday night by pirates in this same area boarding a Japanese tugboat and kidnapping the ship’s captain and two members of his crew.

Not an ancient crime
According to the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Malaysia, 30 mariners were murdered during the 325 known acts of piracy in 2004— half of them in the waters off Nigeria. These figures made 2004 one of the bloodiest since the center started collecting statistics on piracy 15 years ago.

Kidnappings by pirates on the high seas have been a plague upon seafarers for centuries. In 1795, 115 American sailors were kidnapped by pirates in North Africa. To resolve this situation, the fledgling U.S. government was forced to pay a $1 million ransom, one-quarter of its national budget, to gain the release of the sailors.

Because many of these kidnapping situations involve a demand for ransom, ship owners and even governments have been forced to negotiate for the return of their employees or citizens, something the Japanese government is currently doing on behalf of the tugboat skipper and the other mariners. Not withstanding the national policy implications of the so-called Iran Contra Affair, the U.S. government has a stated policy of not negotiating with “terrorists” for the release of kidnapped U.S. citizens. (This does not imply that the United States will not talk or discuss such matters; it simply means the U.S. government will not pay a ransom for the release of its citizens held by kidnapers.) The political implications associated with international hostage taking and kidnappings have absorbed many a national leader and influenced the policies of a number of countries. 

As nations and people begin to slowly recover from the devastating effects of the recent Asian tsunami, governments in those areas are anticipating that kidnappings by pirates will resume and perhaps even increase— to include the areas near South East Asia, the Far East, the Indian Subcontinent, around the coast of Africa, and along the coast of Central and South America, to include the waters surrounding the islands of the Caribbean.

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