OVERVIEW OF MARITIME SECURITY ENVIRONMENT: CHALLENGES AND THREAT ARE WORKSHOP ON MARITIME SECURITY KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA SEPTEMBER 2004

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1 OVERVIEW OF MARITIME SECURITY ENVIRONMENT: CHALLENGES AND THREAT ARE WORKSHOP ON MARITIME SECURITY KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA SEPTEMBER 2004 BY: INDONESIA 1. At the outset, allow me to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Government and People of Malaysia for hosting this important workshop and for the hospitality accorded to us since our arrival in this beautiful city. It is a pleasure for me to be back again to Kuala Lumpur. Indeed, it is a great honour for me as well to co-chairs this Meeting with Mr. Zulkifli Adnan from Malaysia and Ms Patricia Hanigan Scroggs from the United States to deliberate on issues of importance in the field of maritime security amidst the changing world situation. 2. This meeting took place at a critically important juncture in time for the ARP countries' efforts to enhance their maritime cooperation. This meeting, I believe, also represents the first step towards understanding the security aspects of maritime and developing a rational course of action for ARF countries policy makers in enhancing cooperation in maritime security. 3. As an archipelagic state covering maritime areas and bordering important strait such as Malacca, Indonesia has always put its maritime security highly into its agenda. In addressing the maritime issue, Indonesia has always emphasized the significant role of the ocean constitution of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 as a valid framework and basis for international cooperation vis a vis maritime security. Noting that ARF members are mostly parties to this Convention, and therefore the common legal basis has been built in our undertakings, it would be more easily for us to deal with this very issue before us in this workshop. Overview of Maritime Security in Malacca Strait 4. Although the issue to be discussed in this ARF Maritime Security Workshop should be wide-ranging and encompassing the geographical footprint of ARF, the main thrust of this discussion paper will be focused on the maritime issues related to the strait of Malacca, noting that Indonesia as one of the states bordering this strait has a great interest as well as experiences in this particular maritime zone. It does not necessarily mean, however, that other maritime areas of interest to ARF members are not equally important, nor does it mean that Malacca Strait is the only concern of ARF members.

2 5. The Strait of Malacca has always been an important matter for Indonesian maritime policy. The strait has an extremely important value for international trade not only for coastal states i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore but also for other non-coastal States. The Strait is navigated by at least 200 ships per day transporting various resources, from oil and gas to manufactured goods, going to one of the most vibrant economies of the world, South East Asia and East Asia, from many different continents. As a matter of fact the economic and strategic value of the Strait have always been recognized since the heyday of the spice trade of the 16 th century. 6. The economic and strategic importance of the Strait has also been accompanied by a number of concerns such as navigational issues, environmental problems, and also security concerns. One can still recall the major pollution havoc brought about by the Showa Mara in Having common concerns to these matters, the three coastal states of the Strait, i.e, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore had agreed on a common understanding and actions on the Strait as encapsulated in the Joint Statement on the Malacca Strait of 16 November The 1971 Joint Statement stated that the safety of navigation in the Strait is the responsibility of the coastal states concerned. The costal states had further agreed through a Joint Statement on 24 February 1977 to enhance safety of navigation to promote close co-operation and coordination on anti-pollution policy and measures. The three costal states have also signed an agreement with the Malacca Strait Council, a Japanese NGO, on 11 February 1981 in order to combat oil pollution from ships in the Strait through various measures including the establishment of a revolving fund. 7. It is interesting to evaluate that the cooperation between the coastal states has been more or less conducted in a very close way, especially with regard to the establishment of the Tripartite Technical Expert Group or (TTEG) and the Malacca Strait Council. One important observation is that this cooperation is done at the technical level by avoiding politicization of the issue of the Strait. The sensitivity of the matter apparently has required less or no politicization of handling the issue of the Strait. 8. Another important point to note is that apart from Japan, so far, the user states have shown no or little interests whatsoever in the cooperation on navigational matters as mandated by Article 43 of the UNCLOS 1982 on the international burden sharing Of the Strait. Indeed, it is rather unfortunate to see such development. It is hoped that this is not caused by the nature of the issue of navigational matter that may not seem to be at equal par with issues of the big word Security. Therefore, the issue of maritime safety will always have to be in the forefront of any discussion related to the maritime issues. 9. These important facts have to be taken into account when we discuss maritime security and safety in the Strait of Malacca.

3 10. Another important factor in assessing the current security environment in the Strait is the use of reliable data. Indonesia tends to use the data from the IMO as the IMO is a specialized UN body that carries more credibility. IMO has issued a number of reports on the maritime security issue relating to incident of piracy and armed robbery against ships. On armed robbery against ships in the Strait, the IMO indicated that the reports from ships show increasing incidents. In addition to increasing the awareness of the problem, the IMO reports indicate that many of the incidents took place in ports. As a matter of fact, 80 percent of the incidents took place in the ports. 11. Classifying these types of incidents as armed robbery against ships is much more appropriate than classifying them as piracy, as act of piracy is a criminal act committed at high seas or outside jurisdiction of any states and that the jurisdiction to handle them rest within the international community. The inappropriate classification or definition of incidents in ports or even petty theft in ports as an act of piracy is misleading in a number of counts, first, it provides a misleading picture of the actual act of piracy as defined by international law, second, misleading pictures lead to misleading evaluation, third, misleading evaluation leads to wrong solution. 12. Another important matter to be considered is that there is a thesis that terrorists would soon join the pirates and wreck havoc in the Strait. It is suffice to refer to the opinion of Brian Jenkins, a renowned expert on terrorism and security who said that "We should take the problem of terrorism seriously but at the same time I think there is a danger of exaggerating threats. Assessing the real risk from maritime terrorism should not confuse threat assessment with vulnerability assessment. Doing so could result in a remote possibility being deemed an imminent threat. Terrorism makes dramatic headline. There is always the temptation to see every event that occurs is somehow indicative of terrorism". His statement is rightly summed as Separating Fact From Hype. In short, the more we overexpose the threat of terrorist in Malacca Strait, inadvertently will lure terrorists' attention and inspire them to act so in that area. 13. Also important to state that smuggling is a very critical issue in the Strait of Malacca and Singapore. Smuggling in the Strait is probably as old as, if not older than armed robbery against ship. Independent experts state that Indonesia looses around 600 million USD per year from lost revenue from the rampant smuggling in the Strait of Singapore. It is indeed important to note that while on one hand linkage between terrorism and "piracy" in the Strait have been challenged by independent experts, on the other hand, the linkage between smuggling and terrorism has been clear cut evidence and practice in the world. Many states had underlined the obvious connection between terrorism and smuggling.

4 14. This pattern has existed and can be easily emulated or copycat by terrorists in South East Asia. In the midst of tightening financial transactions, they could use smuggling in the Strait of Singapore as an endless source of income to finance their terror activities. Also the narrowness of the Strait has also made them easy to be smuggled to and fro coastal states. Smuggling arms, trafficking people and drugs are also major security threats that need to be addressed comprehensively. Countries should not turn their heads on antismuggling cooperation because they lack the hype of anti-terrorism cooperation. 15. In conclusion, we should be clear that when we talk about challenges and threat to maritime security, we should address the issue comprehensively, not only covering one isolated issue but also other related maritime issues as listed in the report of the UN Secretary-General on Oceans and the Law of the Sea addressed to the UNGA on 4 March Those issues that need to be addressed comprehensively are, among others, maritime safety, smuggling including people smuggling, armed robbery, maritime environment, maritime crimes and etc. Indonesian response to the challenges and threat 16. As has been stated, Indonesia views on maritime security challenges and threats are not confined on matters relating to armed robbery against ships but also include smuggling and also safety issues. 17. On matters relating to armed robbery agaitist ships in the Strait, the related security and law enforcement apparatus in Indonesia are the Indonesian Navy, and Police. 18. hi addressing the maritime issue, Indonesia^ has undertaken a comprehensive approach on enhancing maritime safety through common efforts to improve navigational safety in the strait as well as undertaking efforts to improve maritime security. In the case of maritime security, various measures have been undertaken, among others: a. Focusing the presence of air and se'a patrol in the border areas, strategic lanes and susceptible waters; b. Increasing the early detection capability in certain susceptible waters to gain maritime intelligence; c. Deploying intelligence operations; d. Deploying regular and specific operations in the Strait such as: (1). Maritime Security Operation, involving 9 warships from 1st January to 31 December 2004; (2). Western Front Partition Operation 2004, since 20 th May 2004, involving 7 warships and 4 aircrafts;

5 (3). Western Tiger Shark Operation-29, since 27 May 2004, involving 4 warships; (4). Anti-Terror Operation from 1 st January to 31 st December 2004, involving special force from the Indonesian Navy. e. Determining check point system along the Strait, particularly at the Islands of Berhala, Rupat, Karimun, Sambu and Tanjung Berakit). All these check points are supported by routine patrol conducting challenge and reply exercise to all ships encountered by these patrol. The repressive measures include law enforcement and bringing perpetrators to justice. 19. On regional front, Indonesia has already executed a number of coordinated patrols with Malaysia and Singapore, either bilaterally as well as trilaterally. Indonesia plans to have bilateral coordinated patrol with Thailand and India. Indonesia also has joint exercise with Malaysia code named MALINDO and also COR-PAT MALINDO). Cooperation with Singapore is done through Joint Exercise Sea Eagle and COR-PAT INDOSIN. Cooperation with Thailand is Joint Exercise Sea Garuda. Indonesia also has cooperation of this nature with India namely Joint Exercise Search and Rescue and COR-PAT INDINDO. 20. The Indonesian Police also conducted a number of measures, including but not limited to: a. Intelligence operations; b. Preventive measures through patrolling; c. Pursuing, seizure, arrest and requesting coordination for hot pursuit; d. Pro-Justicia operations; and e. Increasing public awareness of the issue. The works of Indonesian Maritime Police has resulted in the arrests from 91 cases in 2003 and 46 cases since January The Indonesian Maritime Police also conducted bilateral cooperation with Malaysia and Singapore on regular basis aimed at securing the Strait. The cooperation includes coordinated patrol, rendezvous, and exchange of personnel for comparative purposes. 22. Smuggling of goods, people, weapons and drugs are also rampant in the Strait of Malacca and Singapore. Smuggling of goods that has cost Indonesia around 600 million USD every year is definitely a major security problem that has to be tackled since this could easily become a major source of income for terrorist organization. The same is true with smuggling of people, weapons

6 and drugs that all have devastating impact on attempt to suppress terrorism by coastal states as well as international community. 23. Safety and protection of marine environmental issues although technical and is separate from security issues need to be addressed in a more comprehensive ways. Ongoing cooperation by coastal states with Japan, the only user state willing to cooperate in the implementation of Article 43 of UNCLOS, need to be enhanced, and enlarged. Recently, the littoral states (Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia) and IMO are negotiating and developing a demonstration project on the Marine Electronic Highway (MEH) for the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. This is a joint project of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) whose objective is to develop and establish a marine highway system in these Straits for enhanced maritime services, improved navigational safety, integrated marine environment protection and sustainable development of the coastal and marines resourced. Other user states should also bear the burden in providing safety in the Strait. Kuala Lumpur, 22 September 2004