E

ven as seven tugboat crew members taken hostage by the Filipino militant group Abu Sayyaf late last month are still awaiting rescue, three other Indonesian sailors have reportedly been abducted by unidentified gunmen off Malaysia’s eastern state of Sabah over the weekend.

The kidnapping marks the latest of similar incidents involving a total of 25 Indonesian tugboat crew members that have occurred in the last four months in the area and the repeated abductions have raised concerns over not only the safety of the economically strategic waters located between the three countries, but also about how the Indonesian and Filipino governments are handling the situation.

The possibility that ransom was paid for the release of 14 Indonesian sailors who were Abu Sayyaf hostages earlier this year might have triggered the later abductions, an expert says, and there should be a significant change in approach to put an end to the rampant abductions by resorting to hard power involving the two countries’ armed forces.

Reuters reported that five armed men, some in military fatigues, slipped into the high-security waters off Tungku in Sabah’s east coast Lahad Datu district to grab the three fishermen from a Malaysian-registered trawler just before midnight on Saturday.

The kidnappers spoke in poor and broken Malay and while it could not be ascertained which group is behind the latest incident, suspicion is falling on an Abu Sayyaf sub-commander known as Apo Mike, who has been responsible for several recent kidnappings involving sailors on tugboats plying the international waters between Sabah and the Philippines, the report said.

The tugboat, with a crew of seven, was in waters off the east coast of Sabah on Borneo island, about 3.6 nautical miles from Kampung Sinakut Beach, Sabah Police commissioner Abdul Rashid Harun said, when it was attacked by armed men in a white boat late on Saturday.

He said that based on early investigations, the three men kidnapped were 34-year-old Lorens Koten, 40-year-old Teo Dores Kopong and a 46-year-old identified only as Emanuel.

Abdul Rashid said they are likely to be in the southern Philippines now but he did not elaborate. Four other crew members were left behind by the kidnappers who came in a speedboat. No ransom demand has been received for the weekend abduction, the Sabah Police commissioner said as quoted by Reuters.

The Indonesian Foreign Ministry said it had been informed about the abduction of the three sailors, adding that the ministry is still coordinating with various parties in Malaysia and the Philippines to collect complete information to verify the reports. Once the necessary information is gathered, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi is expected to deliver an official statement on the matter.

“The Foreign Ministry is still closely communicating with relevant parties to confirm the information regarding the abduction,” the ministry’s director for protection of Indonesian citizens, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, said.

The abduction comes just as the government is working to release seven Indonesian sailors who were kidnapped when they sailed into Sulu waters to transport coal in June and as Indonesian, Malaysian and Filipino armed forces are finalizing a standard operating procedure (SOP) to enable cross-border joint patrols and establishing a sea lane corridor designated for commercial ships to pass through while under intense monitoring by the countries’ navies in response to the repeated abductions in the waters.

But the fact that the abductions keep on happening indicates that not only does the Philippines government fall short in handling militant groups in its southern, Muslim-majority territory, terrorism expert Al Chaidar said, but also that the possibility that Indonesia’s previous efforts to release abducted sailors had benefited the kidnappers in some way, like through the payment of a ransom.

The ministry has never come clear on whether a ransom was paid to release 14 Indonesian sailors abducted in two separate incidents in late March and mid-April, claiming it was firm in the stance that the government would never pay money demanded by the militant group and would only engage in diplomacy to ensure the safety of the hostages. However, a private foundation under politician and media mogul Surya Paloh claimed to have paid money to secure the sailors’ releases.

“The abductors might see Indonesia as very aware and responsive and they try to benefit from that. It is a business for them,” he said.

Al Chaidar said that it was important for the government to avoid paying ransom in the ongoing cases and to not sanction any private parties trying to meddle in the release efforts by offering money to the kidnappers.