Conflating piracy and maritime terrorism: the need for long-term solutions

The Malacca Strait is one of the most important sea lanes of communication which is crossed by one third of the international trade every year (Huang, 2008). Hence, the necessity to guarantee the safety of this region is crucial to the international community dependent on this trade. The Malacca Strait is composed by three major countries: Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, which have concomitant maritime arenas. The focus of the thesis falls upon Indonesia and Singapore, the countries have reported rates of piracy and terrorism which concern the international community. The mechanisms used to deal with these two same threats vary between the two countries that keep different positions towards the best ways to deal with pirates and terrorists in the region. Singapore used the securitization of the conflation of piracy and maritime terrorism to guarantee the allocation of resources to maritime crimes. While Indonesia kept both crimes under the international radar, adopting a more...Show moreThe Malacca Strait is one of the most important sea lanes of communication which is crossed by one third of the international trade every year (Huang, 2008). Hence, the necessity to guarantee the safety of this region is crucial to the international community dependent on this trade. The Malacca Strait is composed by three major countries: Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, which have concomitant maritime arenas. The focus of the thesis falls upon Indonesia and Singapore, the countries have reported rates of piracy and terrorism which concern the international community. The mechanisms used to deal with these two same threats vary between the two countries that keep different positions towards the best ways to deal with pirates and terrorists in the region. Singapore used the securitization of the conflation of piracy and maritime terrorism to guarantee the allocation of resources to maritime crimes. While Indonesia kept both crimes under the international radar, adopting a more cautious and neutral position concerning its maritime outlaws. However, the two countries achieved the same failed results since the policies implemented reached short-term results, leading to the necessity to develop more appropriate tools to achieve long-term solutions.Show less

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Conflating piracy and maritime terrorism: the need for long-term solutions