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)