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Indonesia relies on 'total diplomacy' to free kidnapped sailors
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Members of the Abu Sayyaf group hold onto their weapons in a jungle area in the southern Philippines. (YouTube/Exclusive)
T
he government says it will not pay a ransom but instead continue its diplomatic efforts to secure the release of 10 Indonesian hostages kidnapped by militant groups in the Philippines.
“We call it total diplomacy. The Foreign Ministry is even collaborating with the military and police to free the hostages,” Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, the ministry’s Indonesian citizen protection director, told journalists.
On June 23, seven of 13 crewmen aboard an Indonesian vessel were taken hostage in the Sulu Sea in the southern Philippines, while the remaining six were let go. Another three Indonesian sailors were kidnapped in an earlier incident.
Charles Honoris, a member of House of Representatives Commission I, which oversees defense and foreign affairs, said that the state principally could not pay a ransom and should not let any other party do so either.
“Paying a ransom will only trigger more abductions,” he added. (wnd/bbn)
