M

ay 1, Online

Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman Rear Adm. Iskandar Sitompul said Sunday that the nation should be proud of the government’s work in rescuing the Sinar Kudus crew.

“No other nation has succeeded in saving men held hostage at sea in less than 150 days. We managed to do it in 46 days,” Iskandar said at a press conference.

He said that as early as March 18 the President had led a Cabinet meeting to discuss rescue options, and that by March 23 Navy personnel had been sent to monitor the ship’s situation.

“We sent three ships, one aircraft and one helicopter,” he said.

However, Iskandar said that the government chose not to take military action as it would put the safety of the hostages in danger.

“The Association of Trade Ship Captains and the families of the men preferred to negotiate,” he said.

Your comments:

The policy to encourage piracy by giving money was not good enough but anyway there is not loss of Indonesian life citizen. I think TNI should learn more how to free hostages from foreign pirates.

Actually every Indonesian ship should be escorted by TNI near Somalia in the near future. I felt TNI was not capable enough to counter piracy using the same arms TNI had. TNI is only able to quell the demonstration by the people not using standard arms.

Dodi Fayyad Irfan
Jakarta

It seems like TNI has not much to be proud of in the field of rescue missions. To pay ransom to criminals is called a “rescue mission”. What a bad joke. It is great to pay money to rescue people, if your navy is incapable of rescuing them. But to be proud of this payment and call it a “rescue mission”?

Ronen
Medan

Paying a ransom is not the same as a “rescue mission”.

My guess is that the pirates were paid quite a bit more than other “rescue missions”. That is the reason for the earlier release.

David
Los Angeles

Somehow, in all the reporting that I’ve seen, not enough credit is given to our diplomats. I respect TNI, but I think this time around they’ve stolen the thunder from the work of diplomacy.

Mendoza Sun
Jakarta

By giving them the money, it means that our government and the company have supported the pirates.

Pintor
Medan

As a ransom is paid, every Indonesian ship passing that way now becomes a prime target. It is happy for the crew but sad that another bunch of Somali terrorists get a pocket full of cash.

Rahmat
Jakarta