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Govt tells fisherfolk to stay on land after two abducted

Two Indonesian consulates general in eastern Malaysia are calling on Indonesian fisherfolk to refrain from sailing after two fishermen were abducted by what the Foreign Ministry has called “an armed group”

Agnes Anya and Novan Iman Santosa (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, September 14, 2018

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Govt tells fisherfolk to stay on land after two abducted

T

wo Indonesian consulates general in eastern Malaysia are calling on Indonesian fisherfolk to refrain from sailing after two fishermen were abducted by what the Foreign Ministry has called “an armed group”.

The call was issued by Indonesian consulates general in Kinabalu and Tawau on Thursday after the two fishermen were abducted in waters off Gaya Island in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia.

“All Indonesian fishermen in Sabah should not go sailing until the situation is declared safe and there is a security guarantee from the local authorities,” the ministry’s Indonesian citizen protection director, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, said in Jakarta on Thursday.

“Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has communicated with her Malaysian counterpart about the issue and requested security assurance for Indonesians working in Sabah, particularly the fishermen.”

Iqbal said the two fishermen were abducted by an armed group on Sept. 11 at around 1 a.m. while working on a Malaysian-flagged fishing vessel, Dwi Jaya I.

The two fishermen, identified as Samsul Saguni, 40, and Usman Yunus, 35, and are both from West Sulawesi.

When asked whether the armed group was affiliated with Abu Sayyaf, a group of militants based in the Philippines, Iqbal said he could not yet comment as he had to get more information on the incident.

In response to the abduction, an Indonesian consul met with authorities in Semporna, as well as the boat’s owner and witnesses, to verify and gather information, he said.

“We have also contacted the fishermen’s families in West Sulawesi and provided them with assistance in cooperation with the local administration,” Iqbal said.

Prior to the abduction of Samsul and Usman, 11 Indonesian fishermen were kidnapped in Sabah waters.

Eight of them have been released and Indonesian authorities are currently working to free the remaining three.

Earlier on Monday, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said Indonesia had conducted trilateral maritime patrols with Malaysia and the Philippines by the countries’ joint borders.

He said the maritime security operations were needed to stop piracy and drug smuggling on the porous sea borders near Sabah, the northern Indonesian territories of Kalimantan and Sulawesi, and southern Philippines.

“We reached the trilateral agreement during a meeting in Laos in 2015 and signed the agreement in the Philippines in 2016,” Ryamizard told a media gathering.

“In 2017, we started the air patrol and this year we are conducting ground exercises.”

Ryamizard said the trilateral ground exercises were necessary so that soldiers would be ready to face any threats.

“The exercises cover both individual and team-level skills, such as in patrols and ambushes as well for snipers and anti-snipers,” he said.

Ryamizard said the exercises would take place on Tarakan Island in North Kalimantan and in Tawi-tawi, southern Philippines, so that soldiers could adapt to their surroundings and prepare for real-life situations.

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