1. I must congratulate Paskal, the Royal Malaysian Navy’s commandos, for their success in preventing the capture of the Malaysian ship by Somali pirates recently.
2. It seems that the Korean commandos have been equally successful in frustrating the Somali pirates from hijacking a Korean ship.
3. I wonder if this means that the anti-piracy forces of the different countries are responsible for the ships of their own countries only. Will the Malaysian or Korean commandos sit by and watch as ships of other nations are hijacked in front of their eyes?
4. I believe there is some international law which prevents merchant ships from carrying armed personnel to deal with pirates boarding their ships. If there is then it is time we change the law.
5. Armed and trained personnel on board would be much more effective than having naval ships sending commandos when the merchant ships have already been boarded by the pirates. The pirates are likely to take hostage of the crew, threatening to kill them if the boarding party of commandos do not leave. The on-board commandos would be able to prevent boarding by the pirates and thus prevent them from making hostages of the crew.
6. Perhaps ships passing through dangerous waters might take on the commandos and they can disembark after reaching safe seas. The situation is sufficiently extraordinary and dangerous that departure from the norm is justified.
