<P> The 18th and 19th centuries saw an increase of piracy in the strait, spurred in part by the economic imperative to control the lucrative spice trade with European colonisers . According to Charles Corn, author of The Scents of Eden: A Narrative of the Spice Trade, "Spices drove the world economies in those days the way oil does today ." The rapid increase in piracy gave James Brooke the opportunity to control piracy along a segment of coast in a way the British Empire and East India Company viewed as cost - effective, enabling himself and his descendants to reign as the White Rajahs of Sarawak . </P> <P> In the 1830s, the controlling colonial powers in the region, the British East India Company and the Dutch Empire, agreed to curb the rampant piracy . This decision, embodied in the Anglo - Dutch Treaty of 1824 led to the creation of the British Straits Settlements of Malacca, Dinding, Penang, and Singapore, seats of British administration aimed at controlling piracy and enabling maritime trade . The British and Dutch empires effectively drew a demarcation line along the strait, agreeing to fight against piracy on their own side of the line . This line of demarcation would eventually become the modern - day border between Malaysia and Indonesia . Increased patrolling and superior seafaring technology on the part of the European powers, as well as improved political stability and economic conditions in the region, eventually allowed the European powers to greatly curb piracy in the region by the 1870s . </P> <P> The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reports worldwide pirate attacks fell for the third year in a row in 2006 . Attacks on ships at sea in 2006 fell to 239 vessels, down from 276 in 2005 . That same trend echoed in the Strait of Malacca where attacks dropped from 79 in 2005 to 50 in 2006 . Nonetheless, in 2004, the region accounted for 40% of piracy worldwide . The IMB reported in October 2007 that Indonesia continued to be the world's most pirate - struck region with 37 attacks since January 2007, though that was an improvement from the same nine - month period in 2006 . </P> <P> The 11 September attacks also heightened the perceived threat of terrorism - related piracy, but US Maritime Administration (MARAD) experts distinguish terrorism from piracy, and piracy from shore gangs who rob ships in port . Some observers argue that there is no single problem of violence at sea, but rather a collection of problems, and that different kinds of violence require different defences . </P>

Countering maritime piracy with special reference to the arabian sea and the malacca straits