THE ROLES OF INTERPOL IN ADDRESSING MARPOL VIOLATIONS IN THE STRAIT OF MALACCA THROUGH 30 DAYS AT SEA OPERATION (2019-2021)

Abstract

As a fairly congested international shipping lane, various types of pollution cases caused by activities of ship are commonly found in the Strait of Malacca. This growing issue is affected littoral states’ economic and social conditions, especially for the three countries that have water territory in the Strait, which are Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Acknowledging this vulnerability, INTERPOL conducted an operation codename 30 Days at Sea to handle marine environmental crimes cases. One of the targeted regions is the Malacca Strait. Recognizing that violations of the MARPOL Convention were the most common cases that encountered during the operations, the purpose of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of INTERPOL's role in dealing MARPOL Convention violations in the Strait of Malacca in 2019-2021. This study uses Neoliberal Institutionalism theory to explain the nature of INTERPOL as an international organization that underlies cooperation between law enforcement body in dealing with security issues. This research uses a qualitative descriptive method by utilizing Lubis and Huseini (1987) analytical indicators through approach from the source (input), process, and target (output), to find out how effective the collaboration is. The analysis finds that most of the law enforcement process held by INTERPOL in the Strait of Malacca is only limited in doing enforcement patrol, and their operational goal to establish legal cooperation framework as long-term instrument of enforcement and prevention still has not yet fulfilled. Nevertheless, their role can still be categorized as effective because as an international organization, INTERPOL is capable to provide supports to start the cooperation, assisting the cooperation process, and also set a target for cooperation so that the participants can get output from cooperation. In conclusion, even though INTERPOL's performance still left a few indicators unfulfilled, they still succeed in meeting their responsibility as an international organization in supporting cooperation between states.