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John Kleinen

Maritime Piracy

An Old Problem in New Clothing?

views from Southeast-Asia

Topics

1. The Construction and Perceptions of Piracy

and Responses thereto.

2. The Historical Context of Maritime Violence.

3. The Criminology of Piracy.

4. Organized Piracy.

5. The Geopolitics of Piracy and Piracy

Prevention. + Typology of Contemporary

Maritime Piracy in Southeast Asia.

6. Conflation of Piracy and Terrorism.

1993

Piet Heyn

Dutch admiral (1577 – 1629)

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Faust Part I

(Act V)

You have the might, and so the right.

You wonder what, and never how.

I know a little of navigation:

War, trade, and piracy, allow,

As three in one, no separation.

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Romancing and Fancying: two sides of the coin

Errol Flynn as the ‘aristocratic’

pirate in ‘swashbuckler’ movies

Questions of gender and

sexuality also led to, often

inflated, accounts of the

search on female pirates .

•

John Selden

Mare clausum, seu de Domino

Maris (the right and dominion

of the sea). London 1635.

Hugo Grotius

De mare liberum

Leiden, 1608

RES NULLIUS RES DOMINIUM

Privateers

• “Vessels belonging to private owners, and

sailing under commission of war

empowering the person to whom it is

granted to carry on all forms of hostility

which are permissible at sea by the usages

of war”

• In Dutch: Kaapvaart: “legale zeeroof”(legal

sea robbery)

What is Piracy ?

• “a subset of violent maritime predation”

• parasitic, e.g. taking and not offering

• intrinsic, e.g. culture of violence

• episodic, e.g. low and high tide of state

formation

J.L. Anderson, “Piracy and World History: An Economic

Perspective on Maritime Predation,” Journal of World History 6,

2 (1995): 175-99

Typology

• “instrumental pirates”

• Poor peasants and economic refugees motivated

by profit, became sea robbers.

• “expressive pirates”

• members of extremist Islamic associations, and/or

are supporters of secessionist movements

What is Piracy ?

• “An act of boarding or attempting to

board any ship with the intent to commit

theft or any other crime and with the

intent or capability to use force in the

furtherance of that act.” (IMB definition)

• “Excepting those crimes that are shown

or strongly suspected to be politically

motivated.” (IMB definition)

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Piracy in context

______________________________

• Human dimensions

• Grey-area phenomena

• illicit activities

– trafficking of goods and people

– Prostitution

– Gambling

Types of Piracy

• Small scale/opportunistic piracy

• High-level and armed

• Low-level and armed

• Highe-level and kidnapping

• Large scale

• Organized crime

• Terrorists in the name of God/Allah/Jahweh

Piracy in the Malacca & Singapore Straits

Geography-Economic Importance-Military Importance

Shortest Route between Indian & Pacific Ocean

Narrowest points +/- 1,5 miles – 10 miles

Lengths: 500 miles long – 30 miles

Piracy incidents 1992-2004

050

100

150200250300350

400450500

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Indonesia

Sea

World

Source:

2005:276 ; 2006: 2392005: 79 ; 2006: 502005:158 ; 2006: 142

The number of piratical incidents reported so far

in 2009 has surpassed the total number reported

in 2008, according to the ICC International

Maritime Bureau (IMB).

Overview 2007: 2/3 of total reported incidents

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Boat People

From petty to organized crime

Economic importance

• 80 % world trade is sea borne of which 50 % passes the

Straits

• > 50.000 ships, large freighters and tankers annually

• Oil life line to East Asian economies: 80 % to Japan

• Singaporean economy based on maritime trade

Military importance

Shortest route between Pacific and Indian Ocean for

theaters of US Pacific fleet and other blue water

navies

High risk areas

for oil tankers

Oil Flows (1999E): 10.3 mill. barrels per day (1/3)

The New Piracy:

Flag/Code Swapping

•Mumbai, India 25/02/ 2003 - An Indian court sentenced 14 Indonesian pirates to seven years imprisonment. The men were convicted for hijacking the Japanese-owned vessel, Alondra Rainbow off the coast of Indonesia in October 1999.

�Steal the ship

�Re-paint, re-name, re-flag and re-register the ship

�Offer the services of the ship to a shipper

�Sail to an undisclosed destination

�Unload the cargo to be sold, then repeat the process

�Nearly always part of a larger criminal organisation

“Phantom-ships”: flag/code swapping

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Apprehension of

pirated vessel MV

Alondra Rainbow by

Indian Navy on

16/11/1999

For full story: William

Langewiesche, Anarchy at Sea, in

the Atlantic Monthly, September

2003

The 14 Indonesian pirates of the Alondra

Rainbow: insignificant players on a very large

sea

Christianus Aeros Mintodo, Eka Dharma, Estafanus Homiang Harson, Anton Yenes Albarto, Dandung Ari, Burhan Nanda, Erick Prathama, Dannis Supandi, Christo Matias Goha, Piether Randa Buenga, Johan Kanthone, David Wandra Putra, Richardo John and Imbrun Rosadi

Extreme right (kneeling): Christianus Mintodo

Piracy and Terrorism

• Political piracy

• Military attack

• Maritime terrorism

• Combating piracy© Eric Pasquier

© Nitin Vadukul

•Political piracy

2 Sentenced to Die for Attack

against Arleigh Burke-

class guided missile destroyer USS Cole (October 12, 2000, left 17 sailors dead)

Yemeni Court Gives Four

Others Prison Terms for Roles

in 2000 Suicide Bombing

Military attack OR Maritime terrorism ?

Aden, Yemen. /AP

Maritime terrorism

• October 7, 2002

• The double-hulled French

supertanker MV Limburg burns

after being rammed by an

explosives-filled speed boat off the coast of Yemen.

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Maritime terrorism• “We bombed ferry”,

claims Abu SayyafPosted: 11:36 PM (Manila Posted: 11:36 PM (Manila Time) | Feb. 29, 2004Time) | Feb. 29, 2004

• killed at least two people,

though 180 more were missing,

according to a radio report.

• Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu

Sulaiman claimed Friday’s

explosion was revenge for

government attacks in the

southern Mindanao area.

Maritime terrorism

• Al Basra Oil Terminal

• Coalition warship near the Khawr Al'Amaya Oil Terminal.

• 24 April 2004

• With ordinary dhows, fishing boats, and speedboats.

Armed pirates stand over French hostages aboard the yacht Tanit off the

coast of Somalia. Five French tourists were on the boat when it was

seized on April 4,2009.

Some references

• Chalk, P., 1997, Grey-area phenomena inSoutheast Asia: piracy, drug trafficking andpolitical terrorism. Canberra: ANU Press.[Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence no.123]

• Murray, Diane, 2001, ‘Cheng I Sao in Fact and Fiction’, in: C.R.Pennell (ed.), Bandits at Sea: A Pirates Reader. Edited. New York: New York University Press. Pp.253-282.

• William Langewiesche, 2004, The Outlaw Sea : A World of Freedom, Chaos, and Crime. Virginia:VHPS.

MB Piracy Reporting Centre

Contact IMB PRC

The ICC Piracy Reporting Centre can be contacted via the

IMB or directly at:

ICC IMB (Far Eastern Regional Office)

PO Box 12559

50782 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

THE 24 HOUR Anti Piracy HELPLINE number is +60 3

2031 0014

http://www.icc-ccs.org/prc/piracyreport.php

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