Yo ho ho and a bottle of Arak. You could say that is the pirate theme for those plying the waters of the Malacca Straits and in the northern Indonesian waters. Piracy has been an increasing problem for Indonesia recently.
Scrambling to have enough vessels to combat this problem, the Indonesian government was welcoming of a Japanese government announcement two days ago. Japan will donate three patrol boats to help Indonesia fight terrorism and piracy. The two countries concluded an official agreement in Jakarta yesterday.
In a neighbourly gesture the Japanese government has decided to further strengthen aid for the crackdown on and prevention of terrorism and piracy through official development assistance. The aid for Indonesia is part of the anti-piracy effort. The donation, worth total 1.92 billion yen, is in response to requests from Indonesia for help in procuring vessels to strengthen its maritime patrol capabilities.
This bipartisan effort is a big step forward to stamping out what is essentially a multi-million dollar thieving enterprise. So some time down the track, or is that wave, it will not be 'Yo ho ho', but, 'Oh shit, here come the gunboats!'.
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