"We can place our personnel on board of commercial ships or assign our warships to guard the ships when they sail in open seas," he said.
Soeparno said every Indonesian-flagged ship was a symbol of the country`s sovereignty and therefore it was the navy`s duty to secure it from any kind of disturbances including piracy.
Indonesia was not the only country in the world facing the threat of piracy . Other countries such as South Korea and the United States also often had their ships hijacked by pirates at sea. To tackle the problem, in January 2009 a joint task force called Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151) was established. It is an international naval task force, set up in response to piracy attacks in shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia.
CTF 151 operates in the Gulf of Aden and off the eastern coast of Somalia covering an area of approximately 1.1 million square miles.
The CTF 151 force`s task was to actively deter, disrupt and suppress piracy in order to protect global maritime security and secure freedom of navigation for the benefit of all nations.
CTF 151 was previously commanded by the US Navy, the Korean Navy and the Turkish Navy. The force was now being commanded by Singapore.
Indonesia has two representatives in the task force.
(T.R018/A051/HAJM/A013)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
