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Obsolete gear clips war against poachers

Maj

Bagus BT Saragih (The Jakarta Post)
Sun, January 25, 2015

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Obsolete gear clips war against poachers

M

aj. Sandy Kurniawan, captain of the Navy patrol boat KRI Todak 631, joined his sailors on deck one morning in December.

Spirits were high, as they were about to execute a mission that would, within hours, garner enormous international attention.

KRI Todak 631 was joined by KRI Barakuda 633 and Sigma-class corvette KRI Sultan Hasanuddin 366 near Siantan Island in Anambas Islands, Riau Islands.

The Navy ships surrounded three Vietnamese fishing boats whose crews and loads were evacuated after they were caught illegally fishing in Indonesian waters in November.

The Vietnamese boats were destroyed. The guns of the warships, however, remained cold as the vessels were destroyed with dynamite '€” to save costs.

 '€œWe were told not to shoot the ships as planned. I am a military man who just follows orders,'€ Sandy said.

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo has taken a stern policy against thousands of illegally-operating foreign fishing vessels who have reportedly stolen US$25 billion a year from Indonesia in lost catches.

'€œA large part of the sum should have been enjoyed by millions of Indonesia'€™s poor fishermen,'€ Jokowi said.

Protecting ocean resources is a pillar the maritime vision Jokowi has touted since on the campaign trail last year.

Since Jokowi'€™s inauguration in October, the Navy and marine police have seized dozens of illegally operating boats from neighboring countries, such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, China and Taiwan.

Thanks to the unusually uncompromising style of Maritime and Fisheries Affairs Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, anti-poaching policies have placed the maritime sector and the Navy under the spotlight.

It is clear that inadequate logistics hinder the Navy in meeting its mission to secure a territory that roughly spans the distance from London to New York.

'€œWhile our ocean is vast, we also have limitations. The poachers seem to benefit,'€ Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Moeldoko once said.

'€œOur Navy fleets often play cat and mouse with them because their ships are fast too. Sometimes, when backup arrives, they have already fled,'€ he added.

The Navy has around 150 ships, most of them obsolete, including 10 frigates, 20 corvettes, 12 fast attack crafts and two submarines.

More than half the fleet is not combat ready due to a lack of munitions.

According to Navy spokesman Comm. Manahan Simorangkir, only around 60 ships are available for sea patrol while 50 vessels are on standby. '€œThe rest of the fleet is undergoing maintenance,'€ he said.

Navy Western Fleet commander Rear Admiral Widodo said fuel was also a problem. '€œThe Navy actually has between 60 and 70 ships available for sea patrol but can only operate up to 15 of them daily because of a limited fuel supply.'€

Manahan acknowledged that money to keep ships at sea would have to come from the state budget.

'€œCurrently, we only have a fuel allocation of about 30 percent of our real demand. If one patrol boat consumes 15 tons of diesel fuel per hour, that boat alone will need more than 300 tons to operate for 24 hours. It is truly expensive to protect our seas,'€ he said.

Jokowi has promised to modernize the Navy, according to the Minimum Essential Force (MEF) plan launched in 2009 that calls for an overhaul of the armed forces by 2024, including a 274-ship Navy that will feature more submarines and corvettes.

Bureaucratic infighting is also a concern, which led Jokowi to launch a powerful new '€œcoast guard'€ body called the Maritime Security Board (Bakamla).

'€œBakamla constitutes representatives of all the 12 [maritime] institutions and has executive power. Hence, its ships will be able to take immediate action if they witness violations of the law at sea,'€ Bakamla executive chairman Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit said.

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