ABSTRACT

The nature of contemporary piracy The contributions in this volume demonstrate that piracy continues to be a security concern in Southeast Asia. While the number of reported attacks in this region dropped after the mid-2000s, Southeast Asia is at present once again the region with the highest number of attacks reported worldwide. This latest rise in pirate incidents occurred despite the national, regional and international efforts to curb piracy introduced in the mid-2000s, including the formation of the Malacca Straits Patrol Network (MSP) and the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). A prevailing discussion across this volume also indicates that the nature of piracy in Southeast Asia has not changed drastically from the period between the late 1990s to the mid-2000s. As in the earlier period, the vast majority of incidents reported today are simple hit-and-run robberies; both opportunistic pirates and organized pirate gangs are still responsible for attacks; and the targets remain predominantly smaller merchant vessels. Unlike in Somalia, no attacks on large vessels such as supertankers have been reported from the region.