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strong>Nov. 2, p4

The Indonesian Navy'€™s Western Fleet (Armabar) sank six illegal fishing boats from Vietnam on Saturday, in Batam, Riau. The boats had entered Indonesian territory and were found to have exploited marine resources.

'€œThe boats have been found guilty by the court of illegal fishing in our territory,'€ Armabar spokesperson Lt. Col Ariris said in Jakarta.

He added that Armabar had assisted the Maritime Resources and Fisheries Ministry to sink the boats.

The sinking of the illegal vessels was carried out by two ministry patrol boats and Navy warships the KRI Kujang and KRI Surik, as well as the Navy'€™s special personnel.

Currently, Armabar is conducting its Western Fleet Quick Response operation aimed at securing the western maritime territories of Indonesia. The Navy has claimed the operation has been successful in reducing crimes, including illegal fishing.

It has been reported that in the first year of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s leadership, Indonesia sank 106 foreign boats for fishing illegally in Indonesian waters. The boats were mostly from Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.

Your comments:

These illegal fishing vessels deserve to be sunk without mercy to decorate our sea bottom.

Trubajaya

It'€™s painful to watch but necessary for Indonesia to blow up foreign boats so that Indonesia can be taken more seriously as an emerging power in Asia and the world.

Warrior

I do not think that after executing foreign reformed or presumed drug dealers, blowing up foreign fishing vessels, making rules regarding foreign investment harder even though it is badly needed, making life ever more difficult for expatriates even though they bring know-how and knowledge that is lacking in this country, and poisoning the atmosphere far into foreign territory make Indonesia still look credible in the eyes of the civilized world.

Abroad, I can assure you, Indonesians are more and more widely seen as ignorant.

Silvio Bari

What is the main problem? Indonesians destroying perfectly good ships, or other countries stealing fish that stray into Indonesian waters?

Willo

To destroy ships is an uncivilized way of applying the law against poachers. The main threat to Indonesian marine resources is Indonesia itself. Fisheries in Indonesia are unregulated, unmanaged and unmonitored and this is another hallmark of a barbarian country. Indonesian fishermen take fish as long as they have not exhausted fish populations one after the other. Several species of sharks and rays are now close to extinction.

SB

The Indonesian government is not gaining respect from neighbors nor deterring violators of fishing rights for several reasons. First, it is targeting poor, small and regional fishermen who may have intentionally or unintentionally crossed into your waters (several of them were victims of fraudulent co-fishing permits issued by Indonesian companies). Second, it shows favoritism to Chinese and Taiwanese fishermen who have intentionally arrived from over 1,000 miles away (One Chinese ship among eight confiscated?). Third, it is seen in contrast with how Thailand and Vietnam have been applying the law on illegal Indonesian fishermen caught in their waters: confiscating their catches, occasionally applying fines, but mostly chasing them out.

Remember, most regional fishermen (except the Chinese and Taiwanese) are poor people with wooden boats and simple equipment (no GPS) '€” making their meager living, going after fish without proper knowledge of international demarcations.

Mary Hong

The game is simple, pick your cards: Blowing up foreign boats that dare to fish in our waters, haze due to foreign plantation companies burning our forests, foreign drug smugglers causing our youth to die, half a million PKI members and sympathizers had to be killed to save our Pancasila, accepting the destruction of churches because they haven'€™t secured the permits.

These nationalist, religious and racial cards are far easier to deal than real actions to tackle the root causes and provide lasting improvement.

Wandering Star

Many local comment posters on here seem perplexed by the anger and dismay of most Western commentators. Let me offer an explanation of why Western observers roll their eyes at these sorts of cheap theatrics. The question is this: What purpose do these fishing boat detonations serve? One would like to believe that this is about protecting Indonesia'€™s fisheries, but that is a joke. This is a country where TNT is used on reefs and many divers have told me that below the water, the country looks like a war zone, with most reefs poisoned or blown apart. It is also a country with the worst record of deforestation on Earth in the 21st century. So if this isn'€™t about protecting fisheries, it is a just a militaristic '€˜respect my sovereignty'€™ display for the Indonesian Far Right. This is the same faction that led the invasions of East Timor and Papua, leading to genocide both times. So I really don'€™t see a lot to celebrate here. It'€™s just a circus for Far Right voters.

LB

Every country in the world (e.g. Australia) has burned or sunk illegal fishing ships, so Indonesia will do the same. Indonesia will not allow thieves to get away without severe punishment, namely the sinking of their ships.

Fanta Orange

Burning or blowing poacher'€™s boats is understandable for the purpose of maintaining Indonesia'€™s sovereignty. We just destroy the boats, not the poachers. No country in this world will let its sovereignty be violated, so other counties do the same thing, I am sure your country does the same too. If you find proof, or strong evidence of corruption, you can inform the KPK. Just imagine what would happen if we didn'€™t have strict punishment.

Hartono

A great way of adding natural coral reefs to our seas by using the sunken boats. They can become new underwater tourism destinations in a decade or so.

Nikitawilly