Events surrounding the rescue of the Rotterdam-bound, 8,900-tonne bulk carrier Sinar Kudus and its crew hijacked by pirates in March demonstrate the resolve of Indonesia to tackle the piracy menace in Somalia.
The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) came perilously close to a pitched battle with heavily armed Somali pirates in carrying out its longest-range military operation in 30 years. The fact that the Samudera Shipping Line was forced to pay the $3 million ransom takes nothing away from Jakarta's full-hearted efforts to free the ship and its 20-man crew.
Indonesian special forces killed four pirates who sources familiar with the incident say were trying to re-capture the Sinar Kudus after the original hijackers left the ship off the Somali coast.
The Indonesians were even prepared to mount a bigger operation if necessary. A breakdown in hostage negotiations at a crucial juncture days earlier had almost led to Jakarta taking the military option, with a task force that included guided missile frigates, amphibious assault ships, helicopters and hundreds of troops.
Foreign military observers, mindful of the disastrous Black Hawk Down episode, agree the rescue would have been a hugely risky venture, since the force had virtually no air support and only sketchy information from the United States and Singapore on the level of resistance to expect.
The Sinar Kudus - carrying $50 million worth of ferronickel, and not $170 million as claimed by the ship's newly hired skipper - was the first Indonesian ship seized by Somali pirates. It was released after 46 days of high drama.
In an incident now under investigation, the bulk carrier was taken before dawn on March 16 about 200km off the coast and 500km south of where it was to enter the Gulf of Aden.
The pirates sought to use the Sinar Kudus to hijack a bigger vessel - a tactic that has permitted them to extend the range of their attacks up to 1,500km out into the Indian Ocean.
But after cruising north and then taking the ship in a large circle, the Somalis eventually abandoned the search and headed south-east to an anchorage 8km off the coast and close to two other hijacked vessels.
Samudera's deputy managing director David Batubara was in close contact with Indonesia's chief security minister Djoko Suyanto, Foreign Minister Marty Natelagawa and TNI commander Admiral Agus Suhartono from the moment news of the hijacking reached Jakarta.
The government chose to negotiate first, but also planned for other contingencies. A week after the hijack, the frigates Yos Sudarso and Abdul Halim Perdanakusuma slipped out of Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port and headed for Colombo, Sri Lanka. There, they rendezvoused with an Indonesian Air Force Boeing 737 carrying a 100-strong assault force of Navy Seals and army special forces operators and set sail for the Somali coast.
The Indonesians also dispatched a small intelligence team to Kenya, lying to the south of the area where the London- based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) says pirates continue to hold 26 ships and more than 520 crewmen.
In another compelling sign of Indonesian resolve, Marty flew to Cairo to meet his Somali counterpart Mohamed Abdullahi Omar, and inform him about the possibility of military action if the talks collapsed.
On April 6, the small Indonesian task force retired to nearby Oman to await the impending arrival of an additional 400 Marine and Army Strategic Reserve reinforcements aboard two 7,500-tonne landing platform docks.
With negotiations for the ship's release going well, intelligence agents escorted the dispatcher carrying the agreed ransom from Jakarta to the Seychelles, where Samudera had chartered an Antanov-26 turbo-prop for the four-hour flight to the hijacked ship.
But on April 28, two days before the money was to be handed over, a second pirate leader boarded the vessel and sought to raise the ransom to $9 million, apparently basing his demand on the captain's inflated value of the cargo.
Batubara refused and shut off communications, informing the government that military action was now a possibility. Hours of tension followed before the original negotiator e-mailed, saying: 'Whatever money you have now we will take.'
After the cash was dropped near the ship, the 35 hostage-holders disembarked in several small groups. But the authorities were informed the ship was free only 10 minutes after the last pirate had left. In that time gap, a separate group of pirates attempted to take the ship.
Commandos aboard two small Sea Rider craft from the Abdul Halim intercepted this second group, killing four in a gunfire exchange, and re-captured the ship.
The Sinar Kudus is one of 139 ships attacked off Somali in the first five months of this year, a huge increase over last year.
Indonesia joins the US, India, South Korea, Russia and Malaysia which have all taken a tougher stance against the Somali pirates in recent months, killing and capturing dozens of them before, during and after attacks on shipping.
Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055
