Indonesian seas safe: Navy chief

Indonesian seas safe: Navy chief

JAKARTA (JP): Navy chief Vice Admiral Arief Kushariadi
yesterday denied that Indonesian seas were unsafe as was
suggested by the International Maritime Bureau.

"Our seas are quite safe. Our battleships go out on patrols
every day of the year, so those suggestions were completely
untrue," he said here yesterday.

The Antara news agency reported that the Kuala Lumpur-based
International Maritime Bureau had recently issued a report on sea
piracy and revealed that the number of crimes on Indonesian seas
was quite high.

Arief brushed aside these suggestions saying that maritime
piracy here was an incidental occurrence and liken it to a
pickpocket operating on a public bus.

"If it really wasn't that safe, our development wouldn't
progress," he said after attending a ceremony marking the start
of the construction of the Cilandak KKO Plaza, a shopping and
recreation center.

Arief said no crimes on the seas would be tolerated.

Speaking of the Malaysian tanker Suci which was hijacked off
the east coast of Singapore last month, Arief said its
whereabouts were still unknown.

He said the incident did not occur on Indonesian waters.

The Malaysian gas-oil tanker, the Suci, was hijacked by six
armed pirates on its way to Sandakan port in the Eastern
Malaysian province of Sabah.

The pirates set 15 of the 17 crew members adrift, keeping two
engineers on board, when they took the ship two weeks ago off the
Hosburgh Lighthouse, east of Singapore. The drifting crew were
later rescued by a fishing boat from the island of Batam.

Arief could not say whether the hijackers had fled into
Indonesian waters but said the navy was doing its utmost to track
down the tanker.

The two engineers are second engineer Tajuddin, and fourth
engineer Kadarishmanto Dwijo Hiswoyo, both Indonesians.

The Suci, built in Japan in 1979 and owned by Malaysia-based
Reezan Holdings Bhd, was carrying about 3,000 metric tons of gas-
oil. (mds)