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he Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has announced that a pretrial motion filed by the owners of captured Thai vessel MV. Silver Sea 2 was rejected by the Sabang State Court in Aceh province late on Monday.

According to a ministry statement on Wednesday, the court rejected the motion with an NO ruling (Niet Ontvankelijke Verklaard) on the basis that the petitioner, Thai-based Silver Sea Reefer (SSR) Co. Ltd., which owns the vessel, lacked the legal standing to file the motion.

Thai attorney Supachai Singkalvanch filed the motion on behalf of SSR director Venus Pomprarest against the commander of the Sabang naval base, claiming that the arrest of the vessel was unlawful.

In the first pretrial hearing on Sep. 28, the court read out the motion, which demanded that the ship, its captain and its crew be released and the relevant legal documents returned, in addition to having the Indonesian Military (TNI) compensate the firm financially in the sum of Rp 4.75 billion.

Minister Susi Pudjiastuti conveyed her appreciation to the court for the ruling. '€œWe should rejoice in the court ruling '€” it shows that law enforcement efforts have worked well,'€ Susi said during a press conference in her Jakarta office.

'€œThe evidence obviously points to the fact that they [SSR] entered Indonesian territorial waters without permission. That is the worst possible violation.'€

Susi previously said that she had sent a notice to the Thai government condemning violations allegedly committed by the vessel while in Indonesian waters.
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'€œWe should rejoice in the court ruling '€” it shows that law enforcement efforts have worked well.'€

The vessel stands accused of taking cargo out of the country without proper documentation, committing illicit transshipments and operating without a functioning vessel monitoring system (VMS). It was caught off the shores of Sabang by Navy patrol ship KRI Teuku Umar on Aug. 12.

The 2,300-GT vessel, which was operated by PT Pacific Glory Lestari, part of the Mabiru Group fleet in Ambon that had been flagged for a number of infringements by the task force, was caught while flying a Thai flag despite having obtained now-expired permits from Indonesian officials in June of last year.

In spite of the small victory, Susi said another pretrial motion had been filed by a member of the vessel'€™s crew aimed at ministry officials.

Vessel captain Yotin Kuarabiab filed a motion against investigators of the ministry'€™s marine resources surveillance base in Belawan, North Sumatra, who named the Thai shipman a suspect in the illegal fishing case.

'€œWe must continue to monitor the proceedings so that there won'€™t be intervention in the Silver Sea 2 case,'€ Susi said.

The first hearing for this motion will take place on Oct. 12, according to Mas Achmad Santosa, head of the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing prevention task force.

Unperturbed by the legal challenges, Achmad said the plaintiff had offered an unsound argument for the second pretrial motion. '€œTheir argument is weak, whereas the IUU fishing case is in the secondary investigation phase. We have a strong team [to deal with the case],'€ he told the Post on Wednesday.

To prevent any future challenges from the defendants, Achmad continued, the ministry'€™s legal team would join forces with that of the task force and acquire the pro bono services of prominent lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis and members of the Lubis, Ganie & Surowijoyo law firm.