I followed the piracy reports at http://www.cargolaw.com/ for several years starting around 1999 when they were the only game in town for that type of freebie intel.
You are correct, the vast majority of piracy reports back then were from the Malacca strait. It’s died down considerably since then but it is still present and a threat.
I may have followed the same intel reports. Why? Not sure. I couldn’t do anything but keep up with what was happening. Kinda like 9/11. When it happened, Mrs. rktman told one of her employees it looked like OBL and they were like “Who?” She told them what I had told her previously. They were surprised when it turned out she was correct.