T

he Indonesian government, via the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), has lodged a protest to the Malaysian government following alleged mistreatment by the neighboring country’s immigration office toward fishermen from North Sumatra.

The protest was aired by Parlindungan Purba, the chairman of DPD’s second committee, after hearing complaints from a number of North Sumatran fishermen who had just arrived at Kualanamu Airport in Deli Serdang regency from Malaysia. The alleged mistreatment occurred after the fishermen had in fact become free men.

“All of the 20 fishermen who arrived in Kualanamu today had completed serving their jail terms in Malaysia. Why were they still allegedly mistreated by Malaysian immigration officials. I will clarify this incident and simultaneously submit a protest to the Malaysian government,” Parlindungan told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The 20 fishermen — 11 of them from Batubatra regency and the other nine from Deli Serdang regency — served three months in prison in Malaysia for allegedly violating maritime borders while fishing.

Parlindungan said there were currently about 100 Indonesian fishermen detained in Malaysian jails for border violations. He expressed concerns that most of those detained by the Malaysian police were traditional fishermen.

“It is sad that some of them have been detained several times for violating maritime borders while fishing,” he said, noting that traditional fishermen were not equipped with the Global Positioning System (GPS).

“No wonder they have been netted several times for border violations,” he added.

As for preventing border violations in the future, Parlindungan said the DPD would ask the government to help provide the traditional fishermen with GPS. He said that ideas to help traditional fishermen had long been aired to the government, but only a few of them had received any response.

Besides equipment, the councilor said the government should also think about educating fishermen on developments in technology.

Ramli, 38, a fisherman from Pantai Labu, Deli Serdang regency, said he had been arrested twice by the Malaysian Police for alleged border violations. Last year, he was arrested for a border violation because his boat was not equipped with a GPS, while this year he was arrested for the same violation despite his boat been equipped with the system. Only this time, his GPS was not functioning properly.

Ramli said he was mistreated by Malaysian immigration officials during his second arrest this year even after he completed his three-month jail term in March. “I went out of the Penang prison in March, but was then kept at the Malaysian immigration for over a month. I was frequently beaten there,” he said.

Irwan, another fisherman, said he was frequently forced to perform push-ups until he was exhausted during his stay at the immigration office.