RI dispatches special team to RP to free hostages

Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The Indonesian government has sent a special team to help free three Indonesian crew members of a ship who were taken hostage by an unidentified armed group in the Philippines, foreign affairs ministry spokesman Yuri Oktavian Thamrin has said.

Yuri said the team was led by Triyono Wibowo from the ministry, and comprised officials from the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), National Police and the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs. Triyono has in the past led teams to free two Indonesian maids and two Indonesian journalists who were kidnapped in Iraq.

"On Wednesday, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono requested help from Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. To follow up on this, the Indonesian government dispatched a special team to the Philippines this morning (Friday). We hope, the team's presence will help intensify the efforts to free the hostages," he told reporters on Friday.

Separately, he said that the Indonesian Embassy in the Philippines was preparing for the arrival of Indonesian legislators Fannie Habibie, Ade Nasution, Yuddy Chrisnandi, Ali Muchtar Ngabalin and Usman Muhammad Al Hadar on Sunday. The legislators would meet with local figures to help with the effort to free the hostages.

Ade said that the legislators were on a humanitarian mission. He also expressed regret that the government had been what he termed slow in taking up the case, with Susilo only phoning his Philippines counterpart on Wednesday.

"We are paying our own way to the Philippines. We are sharing our expenses as we want to show we are serious about our responsibilities as legislators," he was quoted as saying by Antara on Friday.

Ade said that the legislators would ask Nur Misuari, a Muslim leader and founder of the Moro National Liberation Front, to help free the hostages. Ade knew Misuari personally, as he had brought Misuari to visit Indonesia in 1995.

The three Indonesian crew members, Ahmad Resmiadi, Yamin Labuso and Erikson Hutagaol, were kidnapped by five armed Filipino pirates on March 30 while aboard a Malaysian tugboat, the Bonggaya, in the Philippines' Tawi-tawi waters.

The kidnappers, who thought earlier that their captives were Malaysians, have demanded that the Malaysian government pay 3 million ringgit (US$789,578) as a ransom.

Yuri said that the embassy had managed to speak to Yamin on both Wednesday and Thursday. Yamin confirmed that Resmiadi was still alive, unlike as earlier reported in Jakarta, and that his colleagues were suffering from malaria and diarrhea.

"Yamin was unable to disclose his location as he did not know where he was. But he did say that the kidnappers belong to a large group and they are fully armed," Yuri said, adding that the special team had also brought medical supplies for the hostages.

"The Indonesian Embassy in the Philippines will continue to coordinate with the local authorities. We have urged the minister of foreign affairs and other relevant institutions, like the police and military, to increase their efforts."

He said that Indonesia had also asked local public and religious figures to appeal to the kidnappers, "on the basis of humanitarian or religious concern."

"These figures have a wide reach in the southern Philippines' community. But they asked us not to disclose their informal approaches to the kidnappers. So we cannot give any names, but rest assured that they are public and religious figures, such as figures from the Sulu Sultanate."

The sultanate is pursuing a claim over the Malaysian territory of Sabah.

Yuri also reiterated the government's call to the ship's owner, which is based in Sandakan, Malaysia, to help in ensuring the safe release of the men. He said Indonesia had also asked the Malaysian government to speak to the company to this end.

"Apparently, as the hostages are Indonesians, perhaps the the pressure from figures in authority is not so great. But anyway, our representative offices in Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur are trying to ensure that the men's employers also take responsibility."