Sea shooting 'not to affect' Malaysia-RI ties
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Navy chief Adm. Indroko Sastrowiryono played down on Thursday the shooting of a Malaysian fisherman by his troops in the Malacca Straits, saying it would not affect ties between the two countries.
"I have discussed the incident with the Malaysian Navy chief with whom I am well-acquainted," Indroko told reporters.
Indroko reiterated that it was necessary to inform his Malaysian counterpart of Monday's incident in a bid to avoid misunderstanding.
"We explained the truth. We told him that the case is being dealt with. Our relations with Singapore and Malaysia are quite good, particularly at the leadership level, because we have always maintained a high level of communication between us," he said, as quoted by Antara.
An Indonesian warship, KRI Teuku Umar-385, opened fired on a Malaysian trawler last Monday while conducting a sea patrol code- named "Rencong Laut 2001" in the Malacca Straits, the world's busiest sea lane.
Spokesman for the Indonesian Navy First Adm. Franky Kayhatu, said the Indonesian warship, captained by Lt. Col. Semi Djoni Putra, spotted 10 Malaysian illegal trawlers lowering their nets at sea. The warship later gave chase to the largest trawler.
He said the warship fired warning shots, but the crew aboard the Malaysian trawler resisted arrest by ramming into the warship.
The warship's commander ordered his men to fire directly at the trawler, causing the death of its captain, Heng Seng Hong, and the arrest of three other crew members, he said.
The crew members of the trawler, who witnessed the shooting of the Malaysian fisherman, insisted that they were in Malaysian waters, as was shown by the Global Positioning System (GPS) device they were carrying.
They also said the Indonesian boat sped toward them and started firing without warning.
The Indonesian Navy also arrested on Wednesday 10 allegedly mutinying crew members who repossessed a Malaysian-flagged tanker, MT Selayang, in Tanjung Berau waters off East Kalimantan.
Balikpapan naval base commander Lt. Col. Zainal Abidin said the 10 crew members, all Malaysian nationals, were still being detained and questioned.
"We don't know when the ship will leave Balikpapan. We can't release it until we have finished our investigation," he said, as quoted by Reuters on Thursday.
Separately in Kuala Lumpur, the news agency quoted P.K. Mukundan, director of the London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB), who praised the Indonesian Navy.
"We are delighted...the law enforcement agencies of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have all been working together to get this vessel," Mukundan remarked.
"We hope that this is the beginning of the clamping down of this kind of crime by the Indonesians," he said, adding that organized crime syndicates were behind the sea attacks.
In response to the incident, Malaysian Defense Minister Najib Razak said on Thursday he will hold an inquiry into the shooting.
"We want to know what actually happened. We are viewing this matter very seriously in that it involved the life of a Malaysian fisherman and the livelihood of his family," he told reporters, as quoted by AFP.
Najib said the inquiry would establish whether the shooting happened in Indonesian waters. He said it was only justifiable to open fire in self-defense in a threatening situation.
If the inquiry was found to be in favor of the dead man, the Cabinet would decide on a suitable response to Indonesia.
The defense minister assured fishermen that the Malaysian navy and police would step up patrols.
Some 1,000 Malaysian fishermen from the northern state of Perak stayed home on Wednesday, saying they were too scared to go to sea following the shooting.
They said an Indonesian naval craft had been in Malaysian waters last week. (emf)