Though attention in recent weeks has been focused on the Indonesian ship hijacked off the coast of Yemen last month, Indonesian waters are not immune to acts of piracy.
According to the 2010 annual report of the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB), Indonesian waters last year saw their highest number of armed robberies against ships since 2007.
“Thirty vessels were boarded, nine attacks were thwarted and one vessel was hijacked. Vessels were underway in 15 of the attacks,” the Kuala Lumpur-based IMB announced in its report, which was released in January.
By comparison, there were 43 attacks in 2007, 28 the year after and 15 in 2009.
In the Gulf of Aden, an area known for piracy, 53 attacks were recorded in 2010, down from 117 in 2009.
In the first quarter of this year, five attacks in Indonesian waters have already been documented.
However, Ministry of Defense spokesman Col. Hartind Asrin said it was normal to see a fluctuation in the numbers. Rather, he underlined the steady reduction in attacks from 2005 to 2009.
In 2005, the “Eyes in the Sky” initiative between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, along with Thailand as an observing party, was launched to monitor the Malacca and Singapore straits, Hartind said.
The initiative involved patrols by aircraft from the partners’ military personnel. The patrols are conducted weekly to monitor the movement of robbers and pirates in the three countries’ exclusive economic zones on both straits.
In 2005, 79 attacks were recorded in Indonesian waters, which decreased to 50 attacks in 2006.
“When the aircraft patrol identifies an indication of sea robbers, each of the officers will report to their respective naval ships,” he said, adding that the ships would then secure the waters from the bandits.
Hanafi Rustand, the chairman of the Indonesian Seafarers’ Union, also credited the initiative for a decrease in number of attacks against ships in both straits.
There were 12 attacks in the Malacca Strait in 2005, which went down to just two in 2008 and 2009.
In the Singapore Strait, however, after declining from seven to three from 2005 to 2007, the number of attacks bounced back to six in 2008 and nine in 2009.
Hanafi acknowledged that the threat remained high despite the patrols.
“The Malacca Straits, Jakarta, Balikpapan and the South China Sea are still considered risky waters for piracy and armed robberies,” he said
(x the JG)
zo 24 apr 2011 - 17:11