For Wa Daya, the Thursday reunion with her son Muhammad Farhan means that her family is finally whole again after being separated for months.

Wa Daya and her daughter Sri Wahyuni were in Jakarta for a second time in the past month to receive Farhan, who was rescued from the notorious Abu Sayyaf militant group in the Sulu Sea last week. In late December, Wa Daya also received her husband, Maharudin Lunani, who, together with Farhan and another fisherman Samiun Maneu, was kidnapped while on board Malaysian fishing trawler SN-388 in September in waters off Tambisan in Sabah.

“We want to thank the government and the foreign minister for your efforts in rescuing my brother Farhan so we can be together as a family once again,” Sri said on Thursday.

The rescue of Farhan came less than 24 hours before another five Indonesian fishermen were kidnapped in the same location.

“When we heard about the rescue of Farhan, not long after that we heard about the kidnapping of five Indonesians in Sabah waters. We are very concerned with the security in Sabah waters,” Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said on Thursday when she officially handed over Farhan to his family.

Retno’s remarks follow the frustration expressed by other Indonesian officials over the recurrence of kidnappings, with the deputy foreign minister having previously criticized the “ineffective coordination” of Malaysian authorities in securing their waters.

Farhan was rescued in Bato-Bato, Indanan municipality on the Philippine’s southern island of Jolo at 6:45 p.m. on Jan. 15. Meanwhile, the five fishermen were last seen fishing in Sabah waters at night on Jan. 16. Security forces under the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscomm) were alerted to the incident by other fishermen at 1 p.m. on Jan. 17 and immediately launched a search operation while alerting their Philippine counterparts.

With 44 Indonesian having been kidnapped in 13 incidents since 2016, mostly in Malaysia's Sabah waters, Retno said her ministry had on Wednesday summoned Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia Zainal Abidin Abu Bakar, as well as representatives of the Philippine Embassy, over the recurring incidents.

“We want Malaysia to pay attention and improve security in their territorial waters, because we have a trilateral cooperation and we have made a commitment to maintain the security of the waters within our respective territories,” Retno said, urging all boat owners to also help in protecting the safety of Indonesian fishermen who work on board their vessels.

The string of Abu Sayyaf abductions has prompted Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to form a trilateral cooperation initiative that includes coordinated maritime patrols and other cross-border arrangements.

Zainal, meanwhile, assured that Malaysian authorities were doing their best, while pointing out that Sabah waters covered a vast area and that his government "has spent tremendous amounts of money and also enforcement in that area".

“Maybe, on our part, we have to improve dissemination of advice among our fishermen to not enter areas which are prone to kidnapping incidents, […] and maybe [we have] to have a review on the mechanism among the three authorities [of the three countries],” he said.

Observers have suggested that Malaysia had a limited capacity in covering the large area of Sabah waters, while Indonesian fishermen that live and work in and around Sabah were subservient to Malaysian boat owners.

Malaysia’s Esscomm has imposed a curfew for all seafarers to cease all maritime activity in the area between 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. to mitigate the risk of Abu Sayyaf kidnappings. However, some abductions have still taken place during the curfew period.

“Sometimes it is very difficult to control the area if the fishermen themselves are not following the rules. They became easy targets. This is one of the things we need to look at to advise them and stop these incidents from happening,” Zainal said.

Popular

Great Barrier Reef hit by record bleaching

Govt to undo latest curbs on personal imports

Middle East on edge as Israel and Iran trade threats