Foeign ships violate Indonesia's borders

Foeign ships violate Indonesia's borders

SEMARANG (JP): Over 3,500 foreign ships have conducted illegal
entry to the country's waters over the past three years, Navy
chief of staff Adm. Achmad Sutjipto said on Monday.

Speaking at a National Sea Seminar hosted by Diponegoro
University, Achmad said that of 3,531 vessels detected
trespassing Indonesia's sea jurisdiction since 1997, 2,437 were
caught in eastern Indonesia.

The number of sea intrusions excluded 21 foreign warships
violating the country's borders.

"To countries of these foreign warships we have given warning
letters through their respective diplomatic representatives,"
Achmad said.

Achmad said, however, most of the violating civilian ships
were released due to lack of evidence. Only 671 ships' captains,
most of them fishing vessels, were proven guilty.

Despite the unsatisfactory results, the Navy pledged to
intensify its patrols, according to Achmad.

The admiral identified several areas prone to foreign war
ships violations such as the border off Natuna Island, Tarakan
and Nunukan Sea in East Kalimantan, the waters off Marore and
Niangas in Aceh and zones in Sumatra, Malaka Strait, Singapore
Strait, Bangka, Belitung, Serutu islands, Sulawesi, Banda Maluku,
Arafuru and Irian Jaya.

Achmad also said that between April 1999 and February this
year the Navy checked on 1,418 foreign and domestic fishing
ships.

"Of the total vessels checked in that period, captains of 156
were given strong warnings for breaching our fishing zones, 302
ships' captains are still in legal process, 33 captains have been
put on trial while seven vessels were seized by the state.

"The rest were released due to insufficient evidence or
declared not guilty by the court," Achmad said.

Another speaker in the seminar, Otto S.R. Ongkosono of the
Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) suggested that in a bid to
decrease illegal fishing within the country's borders, the
government apply intensive controls and monitoring and of ships
weighing over 50 tons.

The government also has set up a joint board to monitor the
condition of coral reefs with LIPI, a number of nongovernmental
organizations and foreign donors such as the Asian Development
Bank and the World Bank.

The Coral Reefs Rehabilitation and Management Program board,
set up in 1998, oversees 10 provinces where potential sea
heritage sites are located, such as at Komodo Island in West Nusa
Tenggara and Karimun Jawa in Central Java. (har/edt)