More on Piracy

Hot damn my boy is wicked smart. Here’s Eddie’s latest comment on yesterday’s post on piracy:

The whole study is bunk. Probably half of the pirate attacks that happen are never reported by the victim’s company, because it could become a public relations or insurance problem. Add in the fact they didn’t include the attacks in the Straits, and you have a flawed study that becomes even more uncredible by the author’s pushing an unrealistic agenda (i.e. opposing the use of private security forces) onto the reader.

There is a rich opportunity for the Indian, US, Singapore, Australian and regional navies to work together to greatly reduce pirate assaults in the Straits region, if only the sales pitch can be packaged and presented in a sensible manner that doesn’t put off the Indonesians or Malaysians.

Btw with Somalia, we should be dispatching more naval vessels to those waters (as well as Marines from Djibouti) to combat these pirates, as they are likely aiding and abbetting the various warlords and gangs with Al-Qaeda ties.

(Emphasis mine.)

Funny you mention that, Eddie. In re the second bolded section:

Malaysia ‘will never allow’ foreign military patrols of Malacca strait – PM
07.21.2005, 02:40 AM

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX) – Malaysia ‘will never allow’ foreign military forces to help patrol the Malacca strait, which is vulnerable to pirate attacks, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

‘Malaysia firmly believes in the principle of a country’s independence, however small,’ Abdullah said in a speech to the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) general assembly. ‘Based on that principle, Malaysia stands firm in the belief that the responsibility of ensuring the security of the waters of the Malacca strait is ours,’ he told some 2,500 party leaders at the annual talks.

‘We will never allow foreign military to conduct patrols in those waters,’ he said. ‘Their presence, without our approval, would be a breach that we would regard as disrespectful of our country’s independence.’ Malaysia has, however, appealed to the international community to help boost security in the strait—which is also bordered by Indonesia and Singapore—by providing equipment like surveillance aircraft.

The Malacca Strait is one of the world’s most important stretches of water, with 50,000 ships carrying about one-third of the globe’s trade passing through it each year. However the strait, 960 kilometers long and 1.2 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, is vulnerable to pirate attacks and governments in the region also believe it is a tempting target for terrorists.