ABSTRACT
Underway from Thailand to Indonesia, a Singaporean tugboat pulling a barge was attacked by six armed robbers in Malaysian waters on 9 June 2013. The pirates climbed aboard and forced the crew to pump fuel from the tug into a fishing boat. The perpetrators then tied up the crew, stole their belongings and other valuables and escaped in a white speedboat (ReCAAP 2013b: 47). As this incident demonstrates, pirates still ply Malaysian waters today, even though – or perhaps because – international attention is focused firmly on Somali piracy. This chapter overviews contemporary piracy in Malaysia. It first looks briefly at the changing nature of piracy in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, before discussing developments from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s. It explains why piracy emerged as a security concern in Malaysia in this period, and considers the nature of attacks, the perpetrators and the Malaysian, regional and international responses to the piracy threat. The remainder of the chapter focuses on the period from the mid-2000s to the present, examining changes and continuities in contemporary piracy in Malaysia and beyond.
