Conclusion/ Discussions
All in all, sea piracy is a security issue threatening human security in the maritime provinces in PNG. Most piracy cases reported are along the coasts of Milne Bay, Morobe and Madang Provinces. There are three main factors that leads to act of piracy in PNG: Western influence, PNGs developing economy and poor security management. Event though the Western influence and the country’s developing state can be seen as devasting, act of piracy can be controlled by the responsible authorities. Yet, the issue is arising mainly because of poor security operations and management. The main responsible authority is the National Maritime Safety Authority (NMSA) who works closely with other governing bodies such as the Police, Defense force, PNG Customs, PNG Ports and other maritime institutions established under the Department of Infrastructure and Transport. There are maritime legislations established by the NMSA to enforce and regulate maritime safety but are ineffective. The water police division was specifically created to provide security at sea under a MOU with the NMSA but the operations are always hampered by a lack of logistics such as funds, fuels and boats. The government sought an anti-piracy coalition with Australia and the US which was effective in PNG receiving five boats and a vessel during the APEC Summit in 2018. These boats are not utilized by the governing bodies to strengthen maritime security and protect the lives of people at sea. The PNG DF received the Guardian class patrol boat which one of the four Australia planned to give. Thus, the problem is that, the boat is not patrolling the maritime zones regularly and it is just sitting somewhere decorating a wharf. Moreover, the NMSA received a high-powered vessel that can carry 6 passenger and two pilots which is enough for some water police officers and NMSA officers to use and safeguard the lives of people at sea by monitoring the hot spots of maritime crimes. Further, the PNG Customs received three boats which is more than enough to strengthen our maritime boarders but the boats are still sitting somewhere doing nothing. On top of all these, lack of logistics is the common problem deterring maritime operations. According to the police officer at Jomba, “We have the water police unit established in Madang and the man power to carry out the operations at sea we need logistics. The boats that the government received from Australia are just sitting there. The two police dinghies have broken down and need maintenance. We need funding and nothing has been done by the respective heads to look into the matter.” It is obvious that, the Police Commissioner, provincial MPs, district MPs and other stake holders are not working together or often just give sweet talks without implementing them. Consequently, in Madang many innocent lives are lost at sea, poor hardworking villagers being robbed and is still ongoing while the responsible stake holders are not doing anything at all. The similar scenario is happening is happening in Morobe Provice. For the case of Miline Bay Province there is no water police unit and in 2019 when Acting Police Commissioner David Manning Signed the MOU with the NMSA they proposed to set up one. Hence, the province has been going through so many piracy incidents and a few transnational crime cases. In contract with Madang and Morobe, acts of piracy in the province is quite advanced where pirates’ attacks are organized in a network. There was a case where some Asians in search for their drug boat went to a village and threatened the villagers. Perhaps, the Asians are working with the local pirates in smuggling drugs, weapons or people. The sea piracy cases in Milne Bay are more to linked with the outside community which is imposing a huge threat to human security along the coasts of the province.
Therefore, the following recommendations are directed to some stake holders in a way to mitigate sea piracy and protect the lives of people along the coasts of PNG.
Recommendations
The first recommendation is directed to the Police Minister and Minster for Infrastructure and Transport.
- Do evaluations and reviews after every 3 months to see if maritime legislations are enforced by governing bodies
- Work with the MPs of the maritime provinces to establish a mutual understanding of maritime crimes and discuss strategies to address them.
The second recommendation is directed to the NMSA.
- Sign another MOU with the Defense force
- Regular maritime patrol using the Guardian class patrol boat we have right now, in the PNG seas.
- Impose death penalty to pirates.
- Each NMSA branch should work with the water police collectively to do regular monitoring of small crafts in the hot spots.
- Work with PNG Customs under a MOU agreement and other maritime institutions as well.
- Making sure logistics are provided by the departmental heads and other stake holders.
The last recommendation is directed to the people in the coastal provinces.
- Victims should file a complaint against the NMSA and other governing bodies for not performing their assigned roles.
- Community members should work together to deliver pirates to the water police.
- The people in the coasts should report all incidents of piracy to police to make this issue known as a serious one.
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