Maritime piracy can be defined literally as ‘an act of robbery or to the extent of criminal violence
by ships or boat-borne attackers’ towards another ship/vessels (can also be near coastal areas). The
sole purpose behind maritime piracy are subjective since every piracy incident that has ever taken
place are subject to different reasons . On the other hand, maritime piracy is also associated with
‘the goal of stealing cargo’ as well as other valuable items or properties. Hence, those group of
people who are committing with maritime piracy are also referred to as ‘pirates’. According to
‘RAND Corporation’, the term ‘piracy’ can be explicitly defined as ‘the plundering, hijacking or
detention of a ship in any international waters’. On the contrary, piracy have also been proclaimed
as the ‘most feared crime in the sea and can be a result of any illegal or unregulated fishing
displacing fisherman that turns to maritime robbery and extortion’.After the end of the Cold War,
the threat to the sea was no longer traditional or military but turned into a non-traditional threat
with the rise of maritime issues that threatened the security and sovereignty of a nation. Among
these issues are maritime crimes that are rampant such as maritime environmental pollution, human
trafficking, smuggling, maritime terrorism and maritime piracy. The decision reached at the Third
United Nations Convention on the Maritime Law in 1982 on the extension of maritime borders to
200 nautical miles, is a major challenge that must be addressed wisely in the pursuit of peace and
security, not just maritime border respectively, but also in the offshore that demanded cooperation
from various parties. The earliest note for the occurrence of maritime piracy have been recorded
to be in the 14th century BC. This incident took place when the ‘Sea Peoples’ (which are
specifically a group of ocean raiders) attacked the ships which rooted from the Aegean and
Meditterenean civilizations. . Therefore, this study will determine mechanism used by Malaysian
government to deal with maritime piracy between Malaysia and Philippines border and the
challenges faced by them while they are securing the border. By looking onto the mechanism and
challenges, it may help in identifying new alternative to address the threats more effectively and
efficiently. The methodology that are used in this research is content analysis whereby the method
to obtain data is through interview as primary sources and other sources such as government
document, journal and newspaper as secondary sources. The research also argues that a number of
new legal and practical approaches could also help in combating piracy and maritime terrorism,
namely strengthening government policy and legal framework in addressing piracy and maritime
terrorism, encouragement of burden sharing principal in maintaining the safety and security of
navigation between Malaysia and Philippines border.
