TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsGovt urged to step up efforts to free Indonesia seafarers held by Somali pirates
The tanker MT Honour 25, along with its crew, was reportedly seized by Somali pirates while carrying fuel from Oman to Somalia on April 21.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Illustration of kidnapping (Shutterstock.com/Feng Yu)
L
awmakers have called on the government to step up efforts to secure the safe release of four Indonesian seafarers who have been held by Somali pirates for the past two weeks.
Yudha Novanza Utama, a member of House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense, said that while the Foreign Ministry is coordinating with multiple parties in Somalia, including local authorities and community leaders, to secure the release of the kidnapped Indonesian seafarers, the situation requires a more comprehensive and calibrated escalation of efforts.
“Diplomatic efforts must be maximized, not only through bilateral channels with Somali authorities but also through international cooperation, considering this is a transnational organized crime,” he said in a statement on Monday, as quoted by state news agency Antara.
He expressed deep concern over the fate of the four Indonesian citizens who remain in captivity. “The state must be fully present to ensure the safety of all citizens in emergency situations like this,” he added.
Yudha said the incident was not an isolated case, but part of a recurring pattern in global maritime security, particularly in the Horn of Africa, which has long been identified as a piracy-prone region.
He added that shifting geopolitical dynamics have also contributed to the resurgence of piracy, particularly when international attention and naval patrols are diverted to other hotspots such as the Middle East and the Red Sea amid the ongoing war between the United States, Israel and Iran.
“We are seeing gaps in the global maritime security system when international focus becomes fragmented. This situation is being exploited by pirate groups that have long operated through organized patterns and networks,” he said.
