Govt sees solution to Croatian ship dispute
Govt sees solution to Croatian ship dispute
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government expects to be able to quickly resolve an ongoing
diplomatic spat over the detention of a Croatian ship for
allegedly transporting illegally-logged timber.
Minister of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said on
Friday that foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda had been in
intensive talks with Croatian Ambassador to Indonesia Aleksandar
Broz to seek ways to resolve the case.
"There is a certain modality being considered," Marty said as
quoted by Antara.
He said that one solution being discussed was to require the
Croatian ship owner to pay around US$1 million as a security
deposit to take back the ship while the court case here
continues.
"We must make sure that the case doesn't have a negative
impact on the bilateral relations between Indonesia and Croatia,"
he added.
"The issue is that first, the ship lacks documents, and
second, it was involved in illegal logging," another ministry
official Yuri Thamrin said as quoted by AFP. "The ship's crew
were caught red-handed transporting (illegally logged) merbau
wood, so there should be some degree of responsibility."
Merbau is a precious hardwood mainly used for flooring.
Indonesian Navy personnel stormed the Croatia-flagged MV Mirna
Rijeka on Tuesday while it was moored in Gresik waters, East
Java, detaining some 17 crew. The incident sparked a strong
protest from the Croatian government.
The Croatian ship has been involved in a lengthy legal battle
with Indonesian officials since August 2004, when it was stopped
in Papua by the navy after loading merbau logs and was found to
have incorrect papers. The ship, which was hired by a Malaysian
company called Admiral Shipping Malaysia to transport wood from
Papua to China, was then taken to East Java as the case was being
tried at the Surabaya court. The captain was tried and fined Rp
20 million (about US$2,000) in April.
But the crew then experienced difficulties in obtaining
permits to leave East Java waters, and it was only then that
allegations of illegal logging arose, according to Broz.
Indonesian law enforcers have said that the detention of the
ship was part of a legal process to bring to light the alleged
illegal logging case.
The government says it has declared a war against illegal
logging, particularly in Papua, which environmentalists say has
been a major source of illegal logs smuggled to China and Europe.
The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency said in
February that 300,000 cubic meters of merbau wood was smuggled
out of Papua every month to feed China's timber processing
industry.