Event — Conference

Ports, Pirates and Hinterlands in East and Southeast Asia: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

10 - 12 November 2005

Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS)
 

Convenors:
Prof. LI Yihai (SASS)
Dr John Kleinen (MARE)

Speakers:
Dr Robert Antony (Western Kentucky University, USA)
Mr Cees de Bruyne (Dutch National Police, Port Authority Rotterdam, the Netherlands)
Prof. CAI Penghong (SASS, China)
Dr Paola Calanca (EFEO, China)
Dr Stefan Eklöf (Göteborg University, Sweden)
Eric Frecon MA (CERI, France)
Hoang Anh Tuan (TANAP,Vietnam)
Dr John Kleinen (MARE, the Netherlands)
Dr Gerrit Knaap (KITLV, the Netherlands)
Prof. Adrian Lapian (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Carolin Liss MA (Murdoch University, Australia/Asia Research Institute, Singapore)
Ota Atsushi MA (TANAP, Japan)
Mr Pasorohan Herman Harianja MSc (Port Authority Tanjung Pinang, Indonesia)
Prof. Michael Pearson (University of Technology Sydney, Australia)
Dr Catherine Zara Raymond (IDSS, Singapore)
Dr Iskandar Sazlan (MIMA, Malaysia)
Prof. Tokoro Ikuya (Tokyo University for Foreign Studies, Japan)
Dr Esther Velthoen (Auckland, New Zealand)
Prof. James Warren (Murdoch University, Australia)
Prof. XIAO Zhonghua (Institute of Law, SASS, China)

 

 


Introduction to the topic
Maritime piracy encompasses a variety of activities from raiding, destroying and pillaging coastal villages and capturing inhabitants to attacking and taking over vessels, robbing and trading the cargo. Other activities like smuggle of goods and people have also been part of this range of piracy acts. Generally speaking, what connects these activities is the fact that they are carried out at sea, often the coastal inshore waters (within the 12 mile zone), by vessels towards other vessels or towards coastal settlements. The occurrence of piracy is determined by a wide array of factors ranging from geographic, economic, social, political, and cultural ones.
In the early modern world, piracy was not only a major problem in Europe but also in Asia, in the seas of Japan and China and the Southeast Asian waters. In most regions of East and Southeast Asia piracy was not a response to colonialism but had existed before the arrival of colonial forces. With regard to Southeast Asia, one could even contend that piracy was endemic from the earliest recorded times. Both where the physical and socio-political geography of the region are concerned, Insular Southeast Asia is an ideal region for piracy. The main shipping route from the Indian Ocean to the China Seas, and long, difficult to patrol coastlines with countless islands, estuaries and bays provide an ideal environment for carrying out piracy attacks.
Everywhere in East and Southeast Asia these acts of piracy were, oneway or another, embedded in the socio-political context. In Southeast Asia, raiding was integrated into the political system. Rulers were often affiliated with raiding groups who brought in revenue by attacking rival polities and enemies, and who doubled as an army in times of conflict. In the course of the eighteenth century, piracy that already existed in maritime Southeast Asia, took on a different guise, as large-scale, professional raiding fleets base scurged the waters of the Indonesian and Philippine archipelagoes in search of slaves. At the same time, small-scale piracy continued to exist, often also affiliated with smaller political centres. In Mainland Southeast and East Asia piracy was also often closely linked to the politics of states. The central kingdom of Champa (7th- 11th AD) on the Indochinese peninsula was a state characterized as a “plunder-based political economy”, which behaved according to the availability of resources. Plundering expeditions belonged to a state policy that led during the conflicts with the northern Dai Viet to its demise. After the Vietnamese had settled in the Mekong delta around the end of the 17th century, piracy remained endemic in frontier areas like western southern Vietnam. In China, too, especially along the South China Coast (Kwantung province), for centuries piracy ebbed and flowed and continuous reports were written about various acts of piracy. On the one hand there were coastal groups of petty pirates, who were part-time fishermen. At the same time, China’s South Coast was also terrorized by more professionally organized pirates who formed large groups of tens of thousands of men with enormous fleets. These pirates formed a confederation, which was led by various leaders and was subject to a code.

Relevance of the topic and scientific objectives
In the latter part of the twentieth century, both East Asia and Southeast Asia experienced a resurgence of piracy, which continues up to the present. However, it would appear that the nature of piracy has changed, because of access to modern communications and other technology, processes of globalization. Its victims have changed as well: whereas petty piracy still occurs in the coastal waters, such as in the Riau Islands (Indonesia), which focuses on small-scale fishermen and their communities, there are also larger and better organized groups, mainly in the Strait of Malacca, that attack huge international vessels for their cargo or to even take over the vessels and sail them to China. The coastal waters of Thailand, Cambodia and southern Vietnam that earned a dubious fame in modern times was brought into the 20th century with the plight of the boat people, attacked by pirates.
These acts of maritime piracy cannot be regarded outside the relevant framework of the coastal zone. Coastal zones are boundary areas, places of contestation and cross-fertilization. They are naturally and socially marginal spaces in that they serve as the limit between sea and land and the site of contact between cultures. At the same time, and because of these factors, in contemporary times they have become highly desirable places and thus places subject to great social and ecological pressures. Pirates are the extreme instance of marginal coastal and maritime livelihoods and thus become pivotal to understand many of the interesting complexities of coastal and marine settings. Piracy being the most dramatic of marginal(ised) maritime livelihood, it is our intent to bring into focus a range of other types of maritime work that is marginal in one way or another. These might be uses of the sea that are like piracy illegal, such as drug smuggling and trafficking in human beings. This latter topic also spills back into the legal arena with issues of migration and the movement of refugees into and through coastal and maritime zones. Ports, where the loading and unloading of shipments of cargo, business transactions and trading as well as provisioning are taking place, are located in these coastal zones.

The goal of this workshop is to explore the historical and contemporary dimensions of ports and maritime piracy, in order to trace continuities with the past and document the changes that have taken place in the contemporary situation.

An important focus of this workshop will be put on how port authorities have been operating, combatting, condoning or even encouraging different forms of piracy and smuggling. Whereas in the past, in certain situations, ports or port towns may have acted as piracy headquarters, in most cases they have been places of refuge for vessels attacked by pirates. The port authorities of East and Southeast Asian ports have been the designated organizations to manage the port and deal with the suppression of piracy, in cooperation with the coast guard.

In the context of contemporary acts of piracy in Asia, this workshop aims to bring together a number of European and Asian scholars to discuss the various roles of ports and port authorities with regard to maritime piracy in Asia. Various presentations on ports in East and Southeast Asia, in the past and in the present will shed light on the social, political and economic context in which piracy has been taking place and how the stakes of the different players (port authorities, governments, trading companies, sailors, pirates, etc.) have been divided. Closely related is the question of how piracy is linked to the wider political system in the region. Whereas in the past, forms of piracy were embedded in the political system, now it would appear that they work in the interstices of nation states, and are embedded in a globalised, trans-national setting without a formal or informal allegiance to a particular state (or province).

By bringing together not only scholars with a social science background but also representatives of various Asian port authorities and shipping associations, it is hoped to obtain a more complete picture of the current situation. Participants are strongly encouraged to present comparative studies within or between the regions of East and Southeast Asia.

 


Introduction to the topic
Maritime piracy encompasses a variety of activities from raiding, destroying and pillaging coastal villages and capturing inhabitants to attacking and taking over vessels, robbing and trading the cargo. Other activities like smuggle of goods and people have also been part of this range of piracy acts. Generally speaking, what connects these activities is the fact that they are carried out at sea, often the coastal inshore waters (within the 12 mile zone), by vessels towards other vessels or towards coastal settlements. The occurrence of piracy is determined by a wide array of factors ranging from geographic, economic, social, political, and cultural ones.
In the early modern world, piracy was not only a major problem in Europe but also in Asia, in the seas of Japan and China and the Southeast Asian waters. In most regions of East and Southeast Asia piracy was not a response to colonialism but had existed before the arrival of colonial forces. With regard to Southeast Asia, one could even contend that piracy was endemic from the earliest recorded times. Both where the physical and socio-political geography of the region are concerned, Insular Southeast Asia is an ideal region for piracy. The main shipping route from the Indian Ocean to the China Seas, and long, difficult to patrol coastlines with countless islands, estuaries and bays provide an ideal environment for carrying out piracy attacks.
Everywhere in East and Southeast Asia these acts of piracy were, oneway or another, embedded in the socio-political context. In Southeast Asia, raiding was integrated into the political system. Rulers were often affiliated with raiding groups who brought in revenue by attacking rival polities and enemies, and who doubled as an army in times of conflict. In the course of the eighteenth century, piracy that already existed in maritime Southeast Asia, took on a different guise, as large-scale, professional raiding fleets base scurged the waters of the Indonesian and Philippine archipelagoes in search of slaves. At the same time, small-scale piracy continued to exist, often also affiliated with smaller political centres. In Mainland Southeast and East Asia piracy was also often closely linked to the politics of states. The central kingdom of Champa (7th- 11th AD) on the Indochinese peninsula was a state characterized as a “plunder-based political economy”, which behaved according to the availability of resources. Plundering expeditions belonged to a state policy that led during the conflicts with the northern Dai Viet to its demise. After the Vietnamese had settled in the Mekong delta around the end of the 17th century, piracy remained endemic in frontier areas like western southern Vietnam. In China, too, especially along the South China Coast (Kwantung province), for centuries piracy ebbed and flowed and continuous reports were written about various acts of piracy. On the one hand there were coastal groups of petty pirates, who were part-time fishermen. At the same time, China’s South Coast was also terrorized by more professionally organized pirates who formed large groups of tens of thousands of men with enormous fleets. These pirates formed a confederation, which was led by various leaders and was subject to a code.

Relevance of the topic and scientific objectives
In the latter part of the twentieth century, both East Asia and Southeast Asia experienced a resurgence of piracy, which continues up to the present. However, it would appear that the nature of piracy has changed, because of access to modern communications and other technology, processes of globalization. Its victims have changed as well: whereas petty piracy still occurs in the coastal waters, such as in the Riau Islands (Indonesia), which focuses on small-scale fishermen and their communities, there are also larger and better organized groups, mainly in the Strait of Malacca, that attack huge international vessels for their cargo or to even take over the vessels and sail them to China. The coastal waters of Thailand, Cambodia and southern Vietnam that earned a dubious fame in modern times was brought into the 20th century with the plight of the boat people, attacked by pirates.
These acts of maritime piracy cannot be regarded outside the relevant framework of the coastal zone. Coastal zones are boundary areas, places of contestation and cross-fertilization. They are naturally and socially marginal spaces in that they serve as the limit between sea and land and the site of contact between cultures. At the same time, and because of these factors, in contemporary times they have become highly desirable places and thus places subject to great social and ecological pressures. Pirates are the extreme instance of marginal coastal and maritime livelihoods and thus become pivotal to understand many of the interesting complexities of coastal and marine settings. Piracy being the most dramatic of marginal(ised) maritime livelihood, it is our intent to bring into focus a range of other types of maritime work that is marginal in one way or another. These might be uses of the sea that are like piracy illegal, such as drug smuggling and trafficking in human beings. This latter topic also spills back into the legal arena with issues of migration and the movement of refugees into and through coastal and maritime zones. Ports, where the loading and unloading of shipments of cargo, business transactions and trading as well as provisioning are taking place, are located in these coastal zones.

The goal of this workshop is to explore the historical and contemporary dimensions of ports and maritime piracy, in order to trace continuities with the past and document the changes that have taken place in the contemporary situation.

An important focus of this workshop will be put on how port authorities have been operating, combatting, condoning or even encouraging different forms of piracy and smuggling. Whereas in the past, in certain situations, ports or port towns may have acted as piracy headquarters, in most cases they have been places of refuge for vessels attacked by pirates. The port authorities of East and Southeast Asian ports have been the designated organizations to manage the port and deal with the suppression of piracy, in cooperation with the coast guard.

In the context of contemporary acts of piracy in Asia, this workshop aims to bring together a number of European and Asian scholars to discuss the various roles of ports and port authorities with regard to maritime piracy in Asia. Various presentations on ports in East and Southeast Asia, in the past and in the present will shed light on the social, political and economic context in which piracy has been taking place and how the stakes of the different players (port authorities, governments, trading companies, sailors, pirates, etc.) have been divided. Closely related is the question of how piracy is linked to the wider political system in the region. Whereas in the past, forms of piracy were embedded in the political system, now it would appear that they work in the interstices of nation states, and are embedded in a globalised, trans-national setting without a formal or informal allegiance to a particular state (or province).

By bringing together not only scholars with a social science background but also representatives of various Asian port authorities and shipping associations, it is hoped to obtain a more complete picture of the current situation. Participants are strongly encouraged to present comparative studies within or between the regions of East and Southeast Asia.