Written Reply by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen to Parliamentary Question on Piracy Attacks in the Singapore Strait

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: To ask the Minister for Defence (a) how many piracy attacks in the Singapore Strait have been recorded in 2020, (b) how many successful arrests have been made in these cases; (c) whether there has been an increasing trend of piracy attacks in the Singapore Strait over the past ten years; and (d) what are the Ministry's plans to enhance the safety of ships plying our waters.

Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen:

34 sea robbery incidents were reported in 2020.^[1] For valid year to year comparisons, these incidents refer to those that occurred in waters about 40 km from Singapore. Similar to many previous years, none of them occurred within or originated from Singapore territorial waters. These numbers fluctuate widely from year to year but over the past decade, the trend of such incidents has not seen a rise, 28 on average annually. The majority of these robberies involve petty theft of items like crew belongings, engine parts, or scrap metal. The number of incidents correlate with economic hardships, and is expected to be exacerbated by the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic.

As these incidents took place outside our territorial waters, Singapore agencies do not have the authority to directly intervene or apprehend these perpetrators. Nevertheless, our agencies, which include RSN, PCG and MPA, work in concert and make every effort to work with our neighbours for the security of our sea lines of communication. Some of these measures include escorting and boarding vessels that have been robbed at sea and subsequently call into our ports, so as to rule out any residual risks prior to docking. The Singapore Maritime Crisis Centre also serves as the Whole-of-Government set-up that maintains our maritime situational awareness, drives sense-making efforts, coordinates responses to potential maritime security threats, and shares vital real time information to surrounding countries and the shipping community at large.

Singapore also has longstanding cooperation with the navies and coast guards of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand to deal with transnational maritime piracy, robbery and other security threats. We continued to carry out patrols and share information despite the onset of COVID-19. The RSN's Information Fusion Centre (IFC) shares information with our neighbours on a regular basis to aid them in deterring possible perpetrators and to facilitate the successful responses to sea robbery attempts. On 16 Mar 2020 last year, IFC received information that a Bulk Carrier vessel "SAM JAGUAR" sighted perpetrators on-board, while she was transiting along the eastbound lane of the Singapore Strait. As the incident occurred outside Singapore territorial waters, IFC shared the information with the Indonesian Navy's HQ, who promptly acted and arrested three perpetrators.

MINDEF and the SAF remain committed to the prevention of incidents of sea robbery and piracy. We will continue to improve our measures to deal with these threats, as well as work with the neighbouring littoral states to deal with maritime incidents and threats.

^[1] According to the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea, piracy consists of any illegal acts of violence or detention on the high seas or in a place outside the jurisdiction of any state. The International Maritime Organisation has stated that armed robbery against ships refers to illegal acts of violence or detention taking place within a State's internal waters, archipelagic waters and/or territorial sea.