Resurgence of piracy highlights terror risk

Political obstacles to security
Since early last year, under pressure from the United States and other trading powers, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia have been struggling to devise a plan for better security in the narrow bottleneck.

Indeed, Adm. Thomas Fargo, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, prompted a flurry of regional security efforts when he told Congress in March 2004 that the military was looking at "putting Special Operations forces on high-speed vessels" in the strait "to conduct interdiction."

Indonesia and Malaysia, which firmly rejected the idea of a U.S. military presence in their waters, have started working, along with Singapore, on building a system of joint patrol, a move lauded by security experts.

In the meantime, however, successful attacks continue mainly because the pirates flee international waters a short distance into the Indonesian archipelago, where Malaysian and Singaporean vessels cannot pursue them.

"If those three countries agree on hot pursuit into each others territorial waters, that would be big progress in terms of cooperation," said Yoichiro Sato, associate professor at the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii.

AFP - Getty Images file Malaysian policemen patrol near the Japanese tugboat Idaten, which was secured to another Japanese vessel in the Malacca Straits on March 15 after pirates kidnapped three crewmen on the tugboat.

But the poor state of Indonesia's military remains a major obstacle to security. By some estimates, only about one-third of its vessels are even seaworthy, says Jeorg Eschenfelder, Southeast Asia editor for the World Security Network. "They have equipment problems, training problems and corruption" to complicate their fight against piracy.

Many of the pirates "are better equipped and trained than the coast guard or navies in the region," he said.

Wealthy Singapore, with its largely Chinese and non-Muslim population, is the most zealous enforcer in the region, because port and maritime services are the lifeblood of the tiny city-state's economy. It also sees the United States as a key ally in a largely Muslim region.

"Singapore is scared of its bigger neighbors, so it is trying to enhance ties with the United States," Sato said. "It actually welcomes a U.S. military presence in the region; for the same reason it invites the Japanese to be in the region with their coast guard or Self Defense Forces.

Outside nations keep eye on the problem
There's no shortage of nations with an interest in Malacca's security, but their involvement remains marginal.

Japan would like to help police the strait, and it's under pressure from shipowners to help after pirates abducted threw crew members of a Japanese-owned tugboat in March. In its most recent move, in June, Tokyo sent a coast guard patrol vessel to the region.

However, lingering sensitivities over Tokyo's World War II atrocities in Southeast Asia dictate that Japan cannot send military vessels or run patrols, and that its role will remain largely financial and technical. Even the coast guard vessel met with some resistance, and instead is being billed as a training vessel. Under Japan's own postwar constitution, it cannot export arms.

For now, Washington has taken a softer stand on the Malacca Straits, taking the lead of the newly appointed chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. William Fallon, who has said Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore can do a "very adequate" job of safeguarding security.

Support from the United States is focused on providing technology, reconnaissance data and running joint exercises to bolster local patrols.

Sato said risks in the straits may also prompt the United States to lift restrictions on military sales to Indonesia that were imposed in the 1990s because of alleged human rights abuses by its military.

Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld held security meetings in Southeast Asia in June, urging coastal nations to work together on Malacca security, a reminder that the United States is standing by to protect its interests.

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