© irene waters 2015
Paremesawa, his chest swollen with love, watched his wife feed his daughter, Ratna. He looked around the dirt floor of his thatched hut, sad that her future would be the same as his.
“Wah, wah!” Ratna’s quivering hungry cry moved Paremesawa. They had little food, even his wife’s milk was decreasing. He had no choice. Their village, upstream on the river’s edge was hidden in the constellation of islands and reefs, which dotted the Malacca Straits.
Their long knives held ready, assault rifles loaded, the pirates boarded the oil tanker, killing the crew. Paremsawa smiled, Ratna wouldn’t go hungry.
In 2005 Lloyds Insurance Agency of London declared the Malacca Straits as a war zone. With over 70,000 ships per year (approx 1/3rd of the world’s commercial shipping), not to mention smaller craft including fishing vessels and sailing boats) pass through the Malacca Strait. The pickings are high. Recently with increased vigilance between a number of governments the Malacca Straits has been downgraded as piracy has increased off Somalia and the Horn of Africa.
Bo Jiang from the University of Maryland has done an interesting study titled Maritime Piracy in Malacca Strait and South China Sea: Testing the deterrence and reactance models. The full paper can be found here. He writes: “The results also reveal the presence of strain/anomie effects at work in piracy when higher Misery Index leads to greater hazard of being attack and more successful attacks. With the lack of legal employment opportunities and widespread poverty in some communities escalating especially in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, illegal activities are an alternative way to earn a living. As fish stock depletes in the region, some of the more desperate fishers turn to piracy as a source of income in a time of need, while more opportunistic fishers may use it to 27 earn extra cash or to supplement low catches. Unemployed and desperate fishers are also, in some cases, recruited by organized crime gangs to attack or hijack merchant vessels or tugs. For jobless and impoverished fishers, “employment” as a pirate by an organized gang may, therefore, be one of the few options left to earn an income.”
Although it doesn’t make it right, there are always two sides to every story. Knowing those sides should allow the problem to be dealt with in an effective way.
In response to Charli’s prompt:
December 2, 2015 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a pirate story. It can be about pirates or piracy; modern or of yore. Swashbuckling, parrots and rum can be involved or maybe you’ll invent details beyond standard pirates.
Respond by December 8, 2015 to be included in the weekly compilation. Rules are here. All writers are welcome!
Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist) 
Terrific flash and incredible back story. Some think only evil people turn to evil deeds, but we forget about the role of desperation and sometimes an evil deed is actually committed out of love (like not wanting to a wife and child starve). Not only does employment bring income and a living, but it often gives purpose and a sense of self-worth.
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Yes, if we look at the causes and treat the causes of many of these types of “evils”we would be much more effective at decreasing them happening or at least limiting them. Instead we always seem to bring out the big guns.
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You have painted a serious picture of the reality of pirates. I took the frivolous storybook path. I remember being surprised when i realised that pirates were real and not just fantasy figures from storybooks. I like the way you have told the story with compassion, bringing humanity to deeds which, to the onlooker, appear unjustifiable. It’s a great flash and providing the supporting information makes its message all the more powerful. Well done.
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Thank you Norah. I’m with you that I thought the pirates of our story books were fantasy for many years. I’ve never delved deeply into pirate history but I have a feeling those old pirates were buccaneers after the pot of gold. I wonder if that is where the expression make a quick buck comes from?
Glad you enjoyed the flash. I often think if we weren’t so quick to bring out the guns to halt these types of activities but rather looked at the causes and treated them the world would be a happier place.
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That’s an interesting thought. I must look up to see where the expression “a quick buck” comes from. A google search doesn’t provide an obvious answer.
I agree with you about the guns. I’d like to see them all destroyed.
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I will have to ask my Mum. That is the kind of stuff she will either know or have the appropriate book to look it up.
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I wonder will she come up with any more than I did. If so, please let me know.
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I will. I have it on my list to ask her. I may forget to take the list but eventually I will remember.
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I learned a bit about these pirates on a Simon Reeve documentary. As you said, desperation or coercion are the usual triggers.
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That would have been a great documentary. Knowing the causes you would think that they could work out ways of preventing other than bringing out the big guns.
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Easy pickings for too many, Irene.
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Yes I think that has always been the case for pirates. I read a sailing memoir and was fascinated that going in that area of Africa everyone groups together so that the sailing boats go in a convoy for some protection. It must be quite frightening.
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Good job, Irene. There are always too sides to the story.
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Thanks and yes Noelle, there are two sides in everything.
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A tragic dilemma but the pirate solution, especially when in real life they sometimes murder those they attack, is not justice of any kind. We need a world wide response and I doubt that’s forthcoming.
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You are right. We have to rethink how we deal with wealth and inequalities as a world. I know they are trying to do that but it seems our thinking needs to change and that is seemingly hard to do.
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I get that they believe they have no options. But – Their thinking needs to change as well – murder is not acceptable. To do that, they also have to see a bigger picture. We have to see a bigger responsibility. Way too complicated to discuss here.
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You are probably right. Way to complicated.
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