An anti-piracy campaign?

Press, 29 March 1984, Page 12

An anti-piracy campaign?

The Thais have been under pressure from several countries for a long time to take action against piracy in waters close to Thailand. The recent arrest of four Thais accused of attacking a boatload of Vietnamese refugees is one of the first signs that the Thai authorities are treating the problem seriously. The piracy this time included plundering a boat, abducting four women and raping them. It is similar to many other incidents in the Gulf of Thailand.

The legal adviser for Asia to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has estimated that from 1980 to 1982 there were 3600 pirate attacks against refugees. The misery of the boat refugees from Vietnam has been intensified by the pirates. The arrests may indicate that Thailand is at last responding to the international assistance it has been given to encourage it to interfere against attacks on the boat people. It may be, however, that the arrested pirates had done no more than neglect to pay protection money to the appropriate officials.

Piracy also occurs elsewhere. Many reports of pirate attacks come from the waters off West Africa. Reports are also frequent from the waters near Singapore. Attacks on Vietnamese refugees are particularly horrible, but they are only one form of piracy. In January this year Lloyds List reported that pirate attacks on merchant ships occurred every two or three days in the Singapore Straits. The attacks have been on a variety of vessels, from very large crude carriers down to small fishing boats. A

United States Military Sealift Command Ship was attacked a couple of years ago. Besides the attacks off Singapore and Thailand, pirates are active off Malaysia, off Indonesia, and off the Philippines. The pirates are not all brigands. Reliable reports say that Indonesian customs boats not infrequently enter Malaysian waters and extort money from fishermen. The penalty for not paying may be that the customs boats tow the fishing craft into Indonesian waters where fishing gear is confiscated and the fishermen are imprisoned. Major shipping nations are attempting to spur South-East Asian Governments into more vigorous campaigns against piracy. The maritime transport committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which meets in closed session, is believed to discuss piracy regularly. The British, the Norwegians, and the Japanese are reported to have protested to Indonesia about the frequency of pirate attacks near Indonesia. The publicity given to piracy alarms SouthEast Asian countries. No country wants to admit that its officials have colluded with pirates, let alone been active in piracy. Nor would a government want to admit that it is not aware of what its more distant officials are doing. South-East Asia needs international cooperation and encouragement to rid the area of pirates. If the arrest of the four Thais is something more than a token gesture, it may mark the beginning of safer sea travel in the waters of South-East Asia.