Maritime piracy along the malacca straits in southeast asia

Piracy along thestait of mallca appeared towards the end of eihteenthy century, muc h dreiven by a booming econimc activites across the Asian region, which led to incemrtementof flowof goods betweenteh Saouth East Asia, China nd the West (Warren, 4). The culter of ship raiding was increased by the invovemntof western couteris in China trade and the fouding osd Singapore a asteetegi trade center fo the two fronts. The value of Singapore enterpeot tr4de by 1833 was valued at a bout two millin Spanish dollars wit he hsttlement thath was to boemc Singapore acting as centrgalr point to redistruicute goods in the South east ratgion, a nd fo the West to acquire return goods for trade (9). Singapore th efeoe ecame a typeically diffent stllemntwioth both Euroeopand and Asian elemntsanndintersts, leading to develop, ntof the Irnum maradduing fgnag thth attcejd Englisgh shipps trading inthis region with a passon leadiong to heacy losses and marginally contgruibuted to declining trade in Singapore at this time ( Wong Lin Ken, 1960 82-83). Singapre as explained was creted as a redistruibutin center by western forces Mills (1966, 223) argue wtht Europen powers emp[loyed draconian approaches to reduce clocal comeotyoninteh area nd enjoy a complte monopoly destroyin the indegneous systems, w hich imprecverisehd he local sn and the merachants, who dweeloped sesdneof ravage and a sense f legitimiston attcks on ships along the strait. t he Maly and ghe Illunun were biter rivals and piracy continued thpoighh atck of ships and was at its peak between 1826 and 1836 (Freeman, 180). There the fact th SIngapiore was a destin f o the west heithned pirate attcks on ships tow the countery and had almost chocked the port sof Singapore (Freeman, 182). The 1849 bid to elimintate pircacy aliong the striat led by te British though asuslton theassialnts (Freeman, 183) 0was reamrble in crating divides between Sinaopre and the restof the region as a choise fo the westen forces (Mitchel 1976, 178).
Piracy thrives ina area where it is culteurally acceptable and in ASoutegh east asia, it has been aemvbraced as as an acceptable way oflivfe eaimed at profvding support for poor local villages (Murphy, 17). This explinsw hry teerrosimis more rampant along Indonesian coast whre poverty is much higher (Young, 61) and is not considered as a global problem (). M, oroever, closelnessof the sttes has been a factrt to heighten sensitvuity ion stte soverignity, which has hampred efforts for cordiotna nd intergraton in coabatig the piracy meannce over the time (Onn, 2003), leaeing to indiviaul efforts htah have not been very successful (Bradford, 73). Muchof the rivalryand the difernces between Singapre and the teo te tow coutneriwes stems back tot eh colonial deramcations of bounderies betweenteh Britsh and he Dutch. Eh Anglo treaty o 1824 saw the Duth cadn Britons agreeing to to irrevocably divde the prevaius Riau-johor kingdom d severed te cultural unityof the eastcaost soutof Singapoare (Andaya and Andays 122). While Riau’seconmy was disrupted by many i= eyarsof itenal strife and declined, Singapore preosoered greatly udner the Britons(Andaya and Matheson 1979, 109-10)the Durtch rule fute eh weakend the regions (Bernard, 24). The Indonesian state comprised of a heterogenus populaiotn in a unitary terotoryfrcibly rlued by colonialist, leading to clerey defiend bouderoies (Smith 1976, 5). On the oteh hand a stonge andsolid Singaopre governemt and a scmall sizeof the country led to stoeger racial integration while indonesawas less ambitious in manging racial integraton and the goveremnt had no capacity tocosnldouidate te large resouse deprived country (Fee, 873). Malysi consoaldiant asastte was in betweent eh strnegkth of Singapre and theweakness of Indonesia. The differences in social economic and political dimensions in the regains terefe made it hard to fight paricay (Christensen, 24)as more idnonesasn viewed piracy as a way to support their communities (Vavaro), while Sinpaore suffeed greately uner th theretsof piracy. Iowever, Malysia like singpare embaoprjked ion growth strategies in topruism snad industries, thugh Malysia encoaurged a unitry approach towards regoanl isuses to preserve state indentity (Derek 702) unlike the more westened singapre that proefered multilateral approach and even favored inclduioof westen countreuies.
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