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Acquitted but still detained, S’porean captain to sue immigration
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Five fishing boats from Vietnam and Malaysia are blown up in Batam waters, Riau Islands on Tuesday. Indonesia has been cracking down on illegal fishing in its territory. (Antara/M N Kanwa)
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ndonesian authorities are still detaining a Singaporean boat captain even though a court has acquited him on charges of illegally fishing in this country's waters.
Captain Shoo Chiau Huat, 50, of the MV Selin, has not been released from custody because he is now in detention for alleged immigration violations.
Shoo’s lawyer, Herman Black, told The Jakarta Post on Friday that his client has filed a pretrial lawsuit against the Tanjungpinang immigration office.
“We see this as ‘ne bis in idem’, or double jeopardy. We ask the Tanjungpinang District Court to quickly hold a trial for this case,” Herman said.
Herman said his client should have been released by Wednesday at the latest. He claimed his client was still detained because of political pressure, including from Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, who deemed the Tanjungpinang Fisheries Court's decision to acquit “insensitive to the illegal fishing eradication effort.”
“If they want to charge my client under the immigration law, they should have charged the 13 tourists from Singapore and Malaysia who were on board the boat as well,” he said.
He said his client had become exhausted with the prolonged process.
The head of the information section at the Tanjungpinang immigration office, Said Noviansyah, said his office was investigating Shoo because he allegedly entered Indonesian territory without permission.
“We’re ready to face him in the pretrial,” he said.
The Indonesian Navy intercepted the MV Selin, a 78 GT boat, on April 16 in Bintan. Shoo said it was a boat for anglers and carried 13 tourists from Malaysia and Singapore. The tourists had been all deported back to their home countries.
