A LEGAL ANALYSIS OF PIRACY AND ARMED ROBBERY AT SEA IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA: THE MALAYSIAN PERSPECTIVE by HENDUN ABD RAHMAN SHAH A thesis submitted for the University of Birmingham for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PhD in Law) Birmingham School of Law College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham February 2013 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ii ABSTRACT The motivation for undertaking research on the topic of piracy began when the Straits of Malacca was declared a war-risk zone in 2005 due to escalating numbers of piracy incidents being reported, particularly by the International Maritime Bureau. As the Straits is one of the busiest straits in the world and of great significance for global seaborne trade, piracy and armed robbery in the Straits have a devastating impact on the world economy. While customary international law, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 Convention) and other international and regional instruments have established principles and guidelines governing piracy, they are argued to be inadequate and insufficient to deal with contemporary piracy. Since the legal status of the Straits, determined in the early chapter, is that of ‘straits used for international navigation’, which comes under part III of the 1982 Convention, it is the primary responsibility of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore (the littoral States) to ensure the continuous safety and security of ships transiting the Straits. In view of the fact that the issue of piracy in the Straits gained global attention, the efforts to suppress piracy are discussed at each level, namely international, regional and national levels. Before embarking on the issue of piracy in the Straits, a general discussion on the historical development of the International Law of the Sea and the definitional and jurisdictional issues of piracy is undertaken. Then, the thesis examines regional responses to the problem of piracy. Since an individual state is an important nucleus in international law, the Malaysian policy and legal framework are highlighted at the end of the thesis to determine the extent of the efforts undertaken by Malaysia especially the MMEA, and to examine whether the existing Malaysian law is adequate to suppress and prosecute piracy and armed robbery against ships. The thesis ends with a conclusion and recommendations for overcoming the problems. Due to the scarcity of local commentaries on this topic, it is believed that a study of this kind could provide an interesting contribution to the existing literature and may contribute to the current debate, especially on the issue of the Somali pirates who were detained on the high seas and are currently standing trial in the Malaysian High Court. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.......................................................................................... viii TABLE OF PICTURES & FIGURES...................................................................... x TABLE OF AUTHORITIES..................................................................................... xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................... xiv PART 1 General Principles of the International Law of the Sea regarding the regime of Straits and piracy and armed robbery against ships CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research Background ............................................................. 1 1.2 Research Question(s)............................................................... 9 1.3 Research Methodology............................................................ 10 1.4 Significance of the Straits........................................................ 11 1.4.1 Geographical Context.................................................. 12 1.4.2 Climatic Context ......................................................... 15 1.4.3 Historical Context........................................................ 16 1.5 Limitations of the Research .................................................... 20 1.6 Organisation of the Thesis....................................................... 20 1.7 Conclusion and Contribution................................................... 23 CHAPTER 2 A LEGAL AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE STRAITS OF MALACCA AS STRAITS USE FOR INTERNATIONAL NAVIGATION 2.0 Public International Law Principles on Development of Maritime Jurisdiction Zones................................................... 24 2.1 Pre-United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea........ 25 2.1.1 The Controversy over Mare Liberum and Mare Clausum....................................................................... 25 2.1.2 The Cannon-Shot Rule and Three-mile fixed limit..... 28 2.2 The Evolution of the International Law of the Sea.................. 32 2.2.1 The Hague Codification Conference 1930.................. 32 2.2.2 Geneva Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone 1958................................................ 33 2.2.3 United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea 1960............................................................................. 34 2.2.4 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982............................................................................. 35 iv 2.3 Straits Used For International Navigation............................... 37 2.3.1 The Criteria for International Straits............................ 39 2.3.1.1 Definition at Customary International Law: The Corfu Channel Case............................... 39 2.3.1.2 The Regime of Straits in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea................ 43 2.3.1.3 The Right of Passage for Non-States Party to the 1982 Convention................................. 54 2.4 The Legal Regime of the Straits of Malacca........................... 57 2.4.1 The Effect of the extension of the breadth of the Territorial Sea to the Straits of Malacca...................... 58 2.4.2 The Development of the Regime of Passage in the Context of the Straits of Malacca............................... 62 2.5 Conclusion............................................................................ 68 CHAPTER 3 PIRACY UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW AND CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS 3.1 Introduction............................................................................. 71 3.2 The Evolution of Piracy in the International law.................... 72 3.2.1 Piracy in the Ancient and Classical Period................. 73 3.2.2 Piracy in Twentieth Century: A Legal and Historical Analysis...................................................................... 75 3.2.2.1 Piracy in the League of Nations and Harvard Convention 1982.............................................. 78 3.2.2.2 Piracy in the Regime of United Nations.... 80 3.2.3 Piracy in the International Instruments: International Maritime Organisation (IMO) International Maritime Bureau (IMB)............................................................. 81 3.3 Analysis on the adequacy of the law of Piracy in the 1982 Convention............................................................................. 85 3.3.1 Definition of Piracy: Revisited................................. 85 3.3.2 Piracy as an International Crime and the Relevance of Universal Jurisdiction............................................ 94 3.3.3 The Problems with the Rights of Hot Pursuit.......... 101 3.3.4 The Conflation of Piracy & Maritime Terrorism and the 1988 SUA Convention.......................................... 105 3.3.4.1 The 1988 SUA Convention & 2005 Protocol as an alternative to address inadequacy of 1982 Convention on Political Piracy and 110 Maritime Terrorism........................................ 3.4 Conclusion............................................................................... 113 v PART II Regional and Domestic Legal and Policy Responses on the Threat of Piracy and Armed Robbery in the Straits of Malacca: The Malaysian Perspective CHAPTER 4 PIRACY AND ARMED ROBBERY AGAINST SHIPS: A THREAT TO MARITIME SAFETY AND SECURITY IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA 4.1 Introduction............................................................................ 116 4.2 Maritime Safety or Security? Two Sides of the Same Coin... 119 4.3 Piracy as a Threat to Maritime Safety and Security in the Straits of Malacca: A Growing or Declining Risk?............... 122 4.3.1 Historical Overview: The Original of Piracy in the Straits........................................................................... 122 4.3.1.1 Piracy in the Pre-Colonial Period............... 123 4.3.1.2 Piracy in the Straits in the Post–Colonial Period.......................................................... 124 4.3.2 The Threat of Contemporary Piracy: Assessment of Risks........................................................................... 127 4.3.2.1 Analysis of incidences of Piracy in the