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Issue of the day: 38 captured local, foreign ships sunk
Up in smoke: A foreign fishing boat sinks in the waters off Port Belawan in the North Sumatra capital of Medan
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Up in smoke: A foreign fishing boat sinks in the waters off Port Belawan in the North Sumatra capital of Medan. Officers from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry and the Belawan naval base gunned down three foreign vessels, which had been used for illegal fishing, to mark the 70th anniversary of Indonesian independence.(Antara/Septianda Perdana) (Antara/Septianda Perdana)
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span class="inline inline-center">Up in smoke: A foreign fishing boat sinks in the waters off Port Belawan in the North Sumatra capital of Medan. Officers from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry and the Belawan naval base gunned down three foreign vessels, which had been used for illegal fishing, to mark the 70th anniversary of Indonesian independence.(Antara/Septianda Perdana)
Aug. 19, 2015, p5
The government has so far blown up and sunk a total of 38 local and foreign ships in various locations across the country that were earlier caught for illegal fishing, an official said on Tuesday.
'Of the 38 ships sunk as of today, four belonged to Indonesian fishermen,' Rangga Dwi Wahyu Putra of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry's fishery and marine resources directorate general told The Jakarta Post after witnessing the sinking of two local trawlers and a Malaysian ship in Belawan waters, North Sumatra.
Rangga added that of the 38 ships, 34 of them were from Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.
The 38 ships were among 73 foreign and 2,000 local ships that have been investigated by the ministry since January this year for allegedly fishing illegally in Indonesian waters.
Your comments:
The older we are, the more humble, mature and friendly we in Indonesia must be to face any circumstances, let alone the fact that we are still celebrating the 70th year of the country's independence, so I want to suggest that the government review its plan to boast about illegal fishing vessels.
I think it's unwise and embarrassing as in my previous comment I asked the instances involved not to be barbaric wickedness.
The 37 fishing vessels had been declared guilty of poaching or poaching-related offenses in Indonesian waters. Did the courts say that they had to be sunk? Don't you think there are other wiser or better ways for a more mature, independent and civilized nation to treat the illegal fishing boats rather than sinking them in front of international eyes during Independence Day celebrations?
Haven't we always proudly said to other nations that we are a cultured nation known for our national politeness, well-manneredness in our day-to-day conduct, in communication with others? Why should we show the internationals our force as a wise nation by blowing up ships?
I beg you realize that disasters, problems and turmoil can happen unexpectedly to our country, and when we are in bad circumstances, turmoil and difficult times, they would laugh at us, curse us and close their eyes to helping us.
I know that we don't need them when we are in trouble, we can stand on our feet, we are strong, but once again I urge you Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti to not sink the vessels but take advantage of them for good purposes.
This could be for river transportation rather than showing our force and brutality toward the wicked, or sentence them accordingly. We have the law to uphold, right?
Hot Saut
I quote from the article: 'Last week, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti jokingly said that authorities should sink 70 vessels to mark the country's 70 years of independence.'
So what Susi previously said was really a joke? How did The Jakarta Post come to the conclusion that she was dead serious? All of us who read the previous article thought she was!
Firepoch
Wasn't there anything better to do with these confiscated boats than blowing them up in celebration?
Indonesia wants to show the world some muscle, but what we see is that it lacks wisdom.
Benami
So 11 of the boats are from the Philippines and it is interesting... Filipinos are always complaining about foreign fishing ships in their waters.
Vergrassi
'Furthermore, a number of Chinese vessels will be absent from the line-up due to unresolved legal processes.'
Loro Blonyo
