Piracy in the Sulu and Celebes Seas
The Sulu and Celebes Seas, which together form a semi-enclosed sea area and porous region with an area of about 1 million square kilometres, have been subject to illegal maritime activities since the pre-colonial era and continue to pose a maritime security threat to bordering nations up to this day. While piracy has long been identified as an ubiquitous challenge, being historically interwoven with the region, recent incidents also include other types of maritime crimes such as kidnapping and the trafficking of humans, arms and drugs. Attacks mostly classify as 'armed robbery against ships' according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as they occur in maritime zones that lie under the sovereignty of a coastal state. Incidents in the Sulu and Celebes Seas specifically involve the abduction of crew members. Since March 2016, the Information Sharing Centre of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia reports a total of 86 abductions, leading to the issue of a warning for ships crossing the area.
History of piracy in the region
in the Sulu and Celebes Seas has a long history of attacks and raids, with the region being influenced primarily by raiders from the Sulu Sea who originated in the southern parts of the Philippines. The Sulu raiders were mostly composed of the Ilanun and the Sama group of sea nomads as well as the influential Tausug aristocrates from Jolo Island. Historically piracy occurred in and around the vicinity of the Sulu island Mindanao, where frequent acts of piracy were committed against the Spanish. These attacks of the local population are often known as the Spanish-Moro conflict. The term "Moro" thereby originated in the Spanish description as they introduced the derogatory term for Muslims and portrayed them in negative terms primarily due to their opposition to Spanish colonial rule and Christianity. However, the term is being reclaimed by ethnic Filipinos today and constitutes a re-claiming of Muslim identity, which is why the term will be used in the present article as well.Because of the continual wars between Spain and the Moro people, the areas in and around the Sulu Sea saw re-occurring incidents of piracy attacks, which were not suppressed until the beginning of the 20th century. The pirates of that period should not be confused with the naval forces or privateers of the various Moro tribes. However, many of the pirates operated under government sanction during time of war.
The Moro Pirates and Spanish colonial occupation
Moro piracy is often linked to the Spanish colonial occupation of the Philippines. Over the course of two and a half centuries, Moro piratical attacks on Christian communities caused "an epoch of wholesale misery for the inhabitants". After the Spanish arrival in 1521, Moro piratical raids against Christian settlements started in June 1578. These spread all over the archipelago and were conducted with impunity by organized fleets carrying weapons of destruction almost equal to those of the Spaniards. The recurring act is often described as a reaction against the Spaniards, who had displaced the Moros from the political and economic dominance they once enjoyed in the region. Moreover, religious differences between Muslims and Christians are frequently cited.The Spanish engaged the Moro pirates frequently in the 1840s. The expedition to Balanguingui in 1848 was commanded by Brigadier José Ruiz with a fleet of nineteen small warships and hundreds of Spanish Army troops. They were opposed by at least 1,000 Moros holed up in four forts with 124 cannons and plenty of small arms. There were also dozens of proas at Balanguingui, but the pirates abandoned their ships for the better defended fortifications. The Spanish stormed three of the positions by force and captured the remaining one after the pirates had retreated. Over 500 prisoners were freed in the operation and over 500 Moros were killed or wounded, and about 150 proas were lost. The Spanish lost twenty-two men killed and around 210 wounded. The pirates later reoccupied the island in 1849. Another expedition was sent which encountered only light resistance.
In the 1840s, James Brooke became the White Rajah of Sarawak and led a series of campaigns against the Moro pirates. In 1843 Brooke attacked the pirates of Malludu; in June 1847 he participated in a major battle with pirates at Balanini where dozens of proas were captured or sunk. Brooke fought in several more anti-piracy actions in 1849 as well. During one engagement off Mukah with Illanun Sulus in 1862, his nephew, ex-army Captain Brooke, sank four proas, out of six engaged, by ramming them with his small four-gun steamship Rainbow. Each pirate ship had over 100 crewmen and galley slaves aboard and was armed with three brass swivel guns. Brooke lost only a few men, while at least 100 pirates were killed or wounded. Several prisoners were also released.
Despite Spanish efforts to eradicate the pirate threat, piracy persisted until the early 1900s. Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States as a result of the Spanish–American War in 1898, after which American troops embarked on a pacification campaign from 1903 to 1913 that extended American rule to the southern Philippines and effectively suppressed piracy.
Ships
The pirate ships used by the Moros include various designs like the paraw, pangayaw, garay, and lanong. The majority were wooden sailing galleys about ninety feet long with a beam of twenty feet. They carried around fifty to 100 crewmen. Moros usually armed their vessels with three swivel guns, called lelahs or lantakas, and occasionally a heavy cannon. Proas were fast, allowing the pirates to prey on merchant ships that had been becalmed in shallow water while passing through the Sulu Sea. Slave trading and raiding was also very common, the pirates would assemble large fleets of proas and attack coastal towns. Hundreds of Christians were captured and imprisoned over the centuries, many were used as galley slaves aboard the pirate ships.Weapons
In addition to muskets and rifles, the Moro pirates, navy sailors, and privateers, all used a sword called the kalis with a wavy blade incised with blood channels. The wooden or ivory handle was often heavily ornamented with silver or gold. The type of wound inflicted by its blade makes it difficult to heal. The kalis was used often used in boarding a vessel. Moros also used kampilans, another type of sword; a knife, or barong; and a budjak made of rattan and an iron spearhead. The Moro's swivel guns were not like more modern guns used by the world powers but were of a much older technology, making them largely inaccurate, especially at sea. Lantaka dated back to the 16th century and were up to six feet long, requiring several men to lift one. They fired up to a half-pound cannonball or grape shot. A lantaka was bored by hand and were sunk into a pit and packed with dirt to hold them in a vertical position. The barrel was then bored by a company of men walking around in a circle to turn drill bits by hand.Piracy after World War II
Piracy reemerged in the immediate post-WWII period as a result of the deterioration of the security situation and the wide availability of military surplus engines and modern firearms. Police authorities of the newly independent Philippines were unable to get hold of the traffic of arms and goods by rebel groups, which was fueled by the motorisation of inter-island support. Emerging pirate groups mostly stemmed from the South of the country, derived from Muslim ethnic groups. In the Northern parts of Borneo, the Tawi- Tawi pirates were specifically of concern to late British colonial rule who were said to be descendants of 19th century Samal pirates. The authorities in North Borneo recorded 232 pirate attacks between 1959 and 1962. During this period, pirates primarily targeted barter traders engaged in the copra trade, but also attacked fishing and passenger vessels and conducted coastal raids on villages. As an example, in 1985, pirates caused chaos in the town of Lahad Datu in Sabah, killing 21 people and injuring 11 others. Specifically the proliferation of arms which increased with armed insurgencies in the following years, contributed to the level of violence and threat posed by pirates in the region. Philippine authorities at the time, reported more than 431 deaths and 426 missing people in the course of twelve years, resulting in an intense high threat- level for the region. Victims were often ordered to jump into the water which explains the large number of people missing. The armed insurgencies of the Moro National Liberation Front, founded in 1972, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, founded in 1977, provided a new impetus to piracy, with both organisations engaging in piracy to fund their armed struggle. MNLF has engaged in the extortion of fishermen, threatening to attack them if they did not pay protection money. Similarly, Abu Sayyaf, founded in the early 1990s, started to engage in piracy attacks, both to fund the organization and for personal financial gain.Contemporary piracy
2000–2014
Throughout the turn of the millennium, the threat of piracy remained high, with re-occurring attacks on small vessels and raids of towns and businesses on coastal villages in Sabah, mostly attributable to groups of the southern Philippines, as the main types of piratical activities. At the time, specifically the 2000 Sipadan kidnappings received a lot of international media attention, resulting in an increased engagement of anti-piracy measures by the Malaysian government. Subsequently, the Malaysian government increased their law enforcement agencies and established naval bases in the following years that can be found today in Semporna, Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Tawau. These efforts (combined with e.g. the signing of ReCAAP and an increase in the number of law enforcement personnel showed some success and lead to a decrease in incidents. Soon, on a global scale, piracy in Southeast Asian waters was outnumbered by Somali piracy.However, in the years of 2009-2014 an upswing in the number of attacks can be attributed to Southeast Asia again, mainly due to incidents in the Strait of Malacca and South China Sea, but also raids on towns, settlements and offshore businesses re-emerged as a security threat in the Sulu and Celebes area after 2010. In 2014, then, the Philippine government signed a peace deal with the MILF, that includes details about disarmament of the fighters. Yet, violence continues due to other reasons, such as attacks by other violent groups such as Abu Sayyaf or dissatisfied MILF members.
Regarding the nature of piracy in the Sulu Sea, attacks are mostly perpetrated by small teams of less than ten people, which are usually well-armed. Overall, incidents tend to be more violent than their counterparts in other areas of the world, often killing their victims by shooting them or having them jump over board, leaving them to drown. Weapons used by pirates include normal handguns and rifles such as AK47, M16, M1 Garand, and FN FAL Pirates almost exclusively target small vessels, including fishing vessels, passenger ships and transport vessels. While the pirates primarily aim to steal personal belongings, cargo and fishers' catch, they also take hostages for ransom. Especially in recent years, there has been a rise of incidents of these kind. Moreover, pirates sometimes take the vessels' outboard motors or the vessel in its entirety, either to sell later or to keep for themselves.
Responses by affected nation states in the region tap into the following three different categories: maritime operations, information sharing and capacity building. While the nation states have been historically reluctant to collectively act, upholding traditional ASEAN-principles of non-interference and sovereignty, the developments and outside pressure demanded action. Information sharing increased with the adoption of RECAAP in September 2006, and even though Malaysia and Indonesia are no contracting parties, they still engage with reporting incidents and sharing information.