Pieter Zhao

Balancing maritime strategy Lessons from Dutch counter-piracy operations in colonial Indonesia

✍️ ‘The 🇳🇱 colonial experience offers striking parallels today’s maritime security challenges – now underscored by Houthi interdiction in the Red Sea.’

Read @pieterzhao.bsky.social on lessons from counter-piracy operations in colonial 🇮🇩

#Broadside
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Great discussion with @pieterzhao.bsky.social on this timely topic

Do you think policymakers take these lessons seriously?

Should navies continue or expand delegating irregular tasks to civilian or hybrid forces?

Curious what others in #MaritimeSecurity & #IrregularWarfare think.

History demonstrates that non-traditional threats shape strategy, readiness, and legitimacy — both in the past and in the present.

Hybrid solutions aren’t just historical quirks; they offer lessons for today’s maritime security challenges.

Fast forward to today:

- Somali piracy (2000s/2010s)
- Red Sea/Houthi attacks (2020s)
- Private maritime security companies (PMSCs)

The trade-offs remain: who handles irregular threats when navies are stretched?

The Dutch faced dual pressures in Indonesia:
• Piracy & coastal raiding (irregular and non-traditional threats)
• Rival states in the region (traditional threats)

Their solution? A hybrid naval force: conventional units for major threats, semi-military local forces for irregular ones.

Irregular Solutions for Irregular Threats: Maritime Lessons from Dutch Counterpiracy Operations in Colonial Indonesia Learn how Dutch counterpiracy operations in colonial Indonesia reveal timeless lessons for tackling piracy, irregular threats, and modern maritime security.

⚓ What can the past teach us about today’s irregular threats?

In a new piece for the Irregular Warfare Initiative, I look at Dutch counter-piracy operations in colonial Indonesia - and the striking parallels to the dilemmas navies face today.

👉 irregularwarfare.org/articles/irr...

Irregular Warfare Initiative on LinkedIn: #irregularwarfare | 20 comments 🚨 Exciting Announcement from the Irregular Warfare Initiative! 🚨 We’re thrilled to introduce our 2025 Irregular Warfare Initiative Fellows—an outstanding… | 20 comments on LinkedIn

Excited to start the new year as an Irregular Warfare Initiative Fellow 🎉 Looking forward to engaging in discussions with this diverse group of scholars and practitioners and collaborating on research related to irregular warfare, with a specific focus on the maritime domain.

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