Stopping terrorists at sea requires similar action on land, with better international coordination and active and passive measures. THE source of the information remains murky,

especially given the specifics of the supposed intelligence: terrorists
were planning an attack on oil tankers in Singapore waters from the
Straits of Malacca.

According to one source, Japanese authorities had passed the information
to the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB), which
then relayed it to “relevant authorities in Malaysia, Singapore and
Indonesia”.

But another source said Indonesian military intelligence learned about
it from captured Acehnese rebels detained in various raids on their
hideouts over the past fortnight.

There may yet be more versions of how that story originated.
Nonetheless, whatever its origins or veracity, it had spread in recent
days from government agencies to private shippers around the region.

At stake are possible losses of cargo, shipping vessels and human life.

There is also the question of rising insurance premiums, and harm to the
image and reputation of the Straits of Malacca as an important
international waterway.

Nearly 300 ships on average ply the straits each day, transporting a
third of world trade and half the world’s oil. Serious threats to
shipping in the straits can only strengthen the prospect of alternative
routes, like Thailand’s sporadic calls for a Kra Isthmus canal and
Indonesia’s occasional efforts to develop the Sunda or Lombok straits.

Some 80% of China’s oil imports and 90% of Japan’s reportedly come
through the Malacca Straits. Singapore as the world’s leading container
port and refuelling hub also depends heavily on the continued health and
safety of the straits.

And yet the Straits of Malacca poses problems of its own: crowded,
narrow and shallow, it can be a chokepoint as much as a navigational
course. Still, piracy has been suppressed and terrorism never a problem.

Assaults on ships can take one of three forms. The most common has been
hijacking for theft of ship or cargo, or both, which would be piracy and
not terrorism.

An outright act of terrorism would then be either a strike to destroy a
fuel-filled tanker, or hijacking a tanker to turn it into a giant
floating petrol bomb.

The first is difficult to achieve for any known terrorist group in the
region, and the second is difficult for any terrorist group anywhere
because of a tanker’s safety design features.

To counter any attack, security agencies in Malaysia, Singapore and
Indonesia in particular need to develop their level of routine
cooperation and exchange as standard operating procedure. That has
already begun in recent days.

However reliable or otherwise the information may be is another matter.
This occasion should be an opportunity to develop closer working
relationships between the navies, police and coast guard agencies of the
countries concerned.

But what is the known threat so far? Even the identity of the supposed
terrorist group is unspecified, but if there is any truth in the
warning, then initial indications suggest the most likely group is the
Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

However, JI is ill-equipped to undertake a task as complicated as
attacking a large moving vessel at sea with high open decks. It is very
different from detonating a bomb by remote control in a stationary
land-based target.

Nonetheless, whoever is involved or implicated, constant patrols and
adequate on-board security should suffice to deter and neutralise any
attempted attacks.

Singapore authorities during the week have also warned of possible
attacks on other large vessels, but it is just as well for smaller
vessels also to be forewarned.

It took Somali pirates years of experience in attacking, boarding and
hijacking smaller ships before recently “graduating” to a few oil
tankers. For terrorist groups in South-East Asia with no experience of
attacking any ships, it does not require complacency to be sceptical of a
successful attack on an oil tanker.

During the week, the IMB explained that terrorists would need the
element of surprise to succeed. Large, heavy and slow-moving tankers
offer little surprise as a floating bomb, while their few crew members
make for minimal hostages and casualties.

Without lapsing into complacency, the existing security agencies of
Malaysia, Singa-pore and Indonesia have the capacity and competency to
face down any terrorist threat to shipping in the straits. Years of
successful action against piracy has helped, although piracy and
terrorism are separate challenges to security.

Beyond capacity and competency, however, regional state agencies need to
develop the third crucial “c”: coordination. Still with no experience
of working as one offshore security body, separate national agencies can
do with better coordination without undue duplication, wastage, lapses
or blind spots.

With the personnel and equipment already at hand, more can be done to
develop peak readiness round-the-clock with optimal response among the
different agencies of the different countries.

And besides responses, the agencies also need to exercise constant
anticipation of attacks.

A common problem with disparate national agencies concerns territorial
jurisdiction and possible encroachment on national territory.

With close coordination and prior approval in hot pursuit of suspect
vessels, maritime boundaries should pose no problem for law enforcement.

The quantitative presence of the various national security agencies in
the Malacca Straits is more than sufficient.

Their qualitative presence however can be improved, by way of better
information gathering, data interface and intelligence-sharing between
the different agencies and governments.

Uniform procedures among Malaysian, Singaporean and Indonesian
authorities at least would also help. These relate to procedures for
interdicting suspect vessels and the processing of detained suspects.

Passive security measures like on-board sentry duty are important and
will continue. But just as important are active security measures like
intercepting suspect radio messages and detective work to root out
terrorist networks regionwide.

Just as all ships need to be forewarned, not just tankers and other
large vessels, effective maritime security must be more than offshore.

Since seabound terrorists need land operations to complement or support
their activities by way of vital supplies and escape routes, so must law
enforcement deploy land resources and assets to stop them.

Source: The Star Malaysia

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