��� urrent definitions of piracy are inadequate as a tool for policymakers and need to change. According to Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak, “At present the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB) groups all forms of piracy under one category of piracy. Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore feel that acts of piracy should be separated according to the crime committed.” 1 To meet his challenge to provide a useful definition for maritime crimes, the U.N. International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the IMB should revise existing definitions of piracy to include four categories of maritime crimes: corruption, sea robbery, piracy, and maritime terrorism. According to the IMB, incidents of maritime piracy have more than quadrupled in the last ten years, increasing from 90 reported attacks in 1994 to 445 attacks in 2003. But these numbers are misleading due to loose definitions of the problem. Most acts cited in the annual IMB reports on maritime piracy are not the classic boarding and hijacking of a merchant vessel on the high seas. Instead, nearly two-thirds of the attacks in 2003 occurred while the ships were stationary in port and are better classified as sea robbery. Current definitions also overlook corruption among port authorities and classify maritime terrorism together with reports of dockworkers stealing cans of paint. Each category of maritime crimes requires different resources, methods of approach and agencies, and the lack of distinction in defining the problem complicates targeting resources and disperses efforts to unrelated and inconsequential issues. For example, extortion by government officials can be best resolved by tackling government corruption, while police should more properly handle sea robbery. Piracy, on the other hand, requires maritime assets that are available only to national coast guards or navies. Finally, because of its inherent political nature and potential for devastating consequences, maritime terrorism must be separately identified to allow