WMRC report blames Indonesian corruption for rise in piracy in south-east Asian waters

Financial Times ^ | February 14 2004 4:00 | By Mark Huband, Security Correspondent, in London

[DeaconBenjamin]

Corruption in Indonesia's maritime law enforcement agencies was blamed yesterday for a rapid increase in piracy in south-east Asia, where concern is also growing about a link between piracy and terrorism.

A detailed analysis of the growing dangers facing shipping in the region, released yesterday by the UK-based World Markets Research Centre (WMRC), blames coastguard and naval forces for the failure to confront the threat.

"It is not pure coincidence that ships passing through [adjoining] Malaysian waters - mere miles away - suffer a fraction of the pirate attacks that occur in Indonesian waters. Corruption also helps to explain why pirates being pursued by Malaysian marine authorities often flee to Indonesia across the unmarked border running through the middle of the Malacca Straits," it said.

The report argues that where governments have taken tough action, piracy has been largely eliminated.

"At best, government corruption means that a blind eye is turned to the criminal activity unmistakably taking place within Indonesian territorial waters," the WMRC report said.

It reveals that better policing of Asia's busiest seaways can make a significant difference to the threats, and argues that "the low-level negligence of Indonesian authorities is supplanted by outright complicity and involvement in piracy actions".

The vulnerability of shipping passing through the Malacca Straits - through which a third of global maritime trade passes - has become a big concern since intelligence agencies discovered evidence that the al- Qaeda terrorist network might have considered using ships as mobile bombs.

Last May, the US launched the Proliferation Security Initiative, by which it declared it would board ships suspected of terrorist links or of carrying material used in the production of weapons of mass destruction. Terrorism analysts are also concerned that ships may be sabotaged at busy maritime choke points.

A study by the US Center for Naval Analysis in 1996 calculated that the closure of south-east Asia's sea lanes would add $8bn (€6bn, £4bn) to annual transportation costs, as ships would be forced to sail round Australia.

In response to the perceived terrorist threat to shipping, the International Maritime Organisation has introduced new rules obliging ships and ports to upgrade security measures. All ships and ports must have completed the upgrading by July, though maritime security officials say that only about 10 per cent have done so.