Indonesian Navy Launches New Campaign to Combat Piracy

Rear Admiral Achmad Taufiqoerrochman says the campaign will raise awareness among people

The Indonesian Navy's Western Fleet (Armabar) is betting that a new awareness program it is launching will dissuade people from participating in criminal activities and help reduce incidences of piracy, local media reports.

Rear Admiral Achmad Taufiqoerrachman, commander for the Western Fleet, told reporters that the program, which will involve local police and regional administrators, will "raise awareness among people so that they will not participate in any sea crime activities should criminals ask them to rob and hijack vessels, or steal their parts."

The program will be launched in villages said to be hotbeds of pirate activity, such as in the Riau Islands as well as in and around the Malacca Strait and Natuna Island.

Younger residents will be singled out for special attention because many people arrested by the Western Fleet were teenagers who supposedly didn't realize they were committing crimes: a Navy investigation shows that at least 90 percent of piracy in the Malacca Strait is instigated by Indonesian and foreigners, but not by the pirates themselves.

Taufiqoerrachman noted that crime in the Strait has declined significantly, and therefore "Now is the time to conduct this public campaign, so that the area can continue to be free from any sea criminal activities."

Earlier this year, Taufiqoerrachman complained that a plot may be afoot to portray the Malacca Strait as "the most dangerous strait in the world" and pointed out that the vast majority of the reported criminal incidents in the area are bogus.