There have been at least four incidents of maritime hijackings against Indonesia-flagged vessels during the year 2016. The attacks have led to more than 20 Indonesian fishermen being kidnapped by groups suspected of ties to the Abu Sayyaf militant network. Tuckboat Brahma 12 and the Anand were hijacked in March 2016 with ten of the crews were taken hostage; TB Henry and the Christy were attacked on 15 April 2016 where the captors kidnapped four sailors; and TB Charles was owned by the hijackers on 20 June 2016, they took seven crew members over. A similar incident occurred recently near Felda Sahabat water (Philippines-Malaysia border, near Matakin Island) to a fishing boat, Kapal Tunda Pukat, on 9 July 2016, which resulted in three Indonesian fishermen from East Nusa Tenggara Province were kidnapped. All incidents were occurred in the waters – mostly in the seas of Southern Philippines sea – along the shared borders of three countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines.
Pirates mainly use small and fast ships rather than immense galleons. They have maneuverable ships such as sloops or speedboats, which could carry up to 10 men. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Pirates used schooners, which were American versions of sloops, and brigantines, which could hold about twice as many men as sloops. In the modern piracy however, pirates, who equipped with guns, preferred to board the enemy ship and fight hand-to-hand on the deck. They liked to intimidate their victims into surrendering then plunder the ship and kidnap its crews for ransom. The amount of money they ask mainly depends on the amount of hostages and their measurement of wealth of the company where the hostages work for as well as their country.
The hijackings allegedly conducted by Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Southern Philippines in recent time are believed more likely to be an economic motivated. The ransom collected is used for operational funding and to run the organization. Moreover, political factor plays an important role too, since the separatist group; the ASG has still fought against Philippines authority for liberation in order to establish an independent Islamic State. The ASG attacks against foreigners around the southern Philippines waters are intended to exploit the weaknesses of Philippines maritime security. They wanted to show the world that Philippines has failed to secure its territorial and sea border for international trade activities. Thus, it would not only affect the image of Philippines as one of the big countries in South East Asia, but also disrupt economic cooperation with other countries, including the neighboring country, Indonesia. Abu Sayyaf has been operating in southern Philippines for more than last two decades and notorious for kidnapping for ransom, and for attacks on civilians and the army. The group is believed to have an estimated 400 members and, since 2014, several of its factions have declared their allegiance to Islamic State (IS) / ISIS.
Since the militant group has taken hostages several Indonesian citizens, the government has actually been undertaking some strategic steps to response, such as setting up joint patrols with Philippines and Malaysia in the increasingly piracy-prone waters of northeast Kalimantan. The action undoubtedly is a strategic policy to combat piracy. However, ensuring the live of the citizen must always be a top priority, as repeatedly said by The President Jokowi in several occasions. Therefore, the handling on the issue should be both tactically and strategically.
The government needs to form a special team like joint task force, which is consisted of elites unit from military, police and intelligence. The main mission of the team is to free hostages safely. They should work both in cooperative and covert operations, with an approach of either coercive or non-coercive diplomacy. This would be the most realistic initial step that the government should take in every hijacking incident.
In addition, for a long term, Indonesia as a member state of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) could utilize ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) to provide setting of discussion and diplomacy in order to resolve the problems. ASEAN with the comprehensive security principal, allow its members to share issues facing by them and ask each other for assistance to handle their issues. Since the participants of ARF are not merely consisted of ten ASEAN countries, but also another 10 ASEAN’s dialogue partners, such as United States, Australia, China, and Russia, the first regionwide Asia-Pacific multilateral forum for official consultations on peace and security issues could help to get rid of the pirates criminal group as well as to increase ASEAN regional maritime security.
*) Ahmad S, A Researcher in Menara Institute, Post Graduate Student at University of Indonesia.
