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Rescued hostages reunited with families
Presiding over a ceremony on Monday to reunite the four rescued fishermen with their families, the Foreign Minister stressed trilateral security cooperation and developing Southeast Sulawesi's provincial economy as two measure for preventing any future abductions.
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he Foreign Ministry reunited four Indonesian fishermen with their families on Monday after Philippine troops rescued them last month from the Abu Sayyaf group, which had held them hostage for 427 days in the southern Philippines.
“This is the result of collaboration between all elements working together. Thus, I would like to thank [all] those who helped in the rescue, especially to the personnel of the TNI [Indonesian Military] and BIN [State Intelligence Agency],” Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a virtual press conference on April 5, following a ceremony in Jakarta to return the fishermen to their families.
Retno also expressed appreciation for the Philippine government’s efforts, particularly the Western Mindanao Command that “cooperated in rescuing” the Indonesian hostages.
Arsad Bin Dahlan, 41, Arizal Kasta Miran, 30, Andi Riswanti, 26, and the youngest, 15-year-old Khairuldin, were four of five Indonesians whom the Islamist militant group kidnapped for ransom last January in the waters off the Malaysian island of Tambisan, about 10 minutes from Tawi-Tawi, the Philippines’ southernmost island province.
The group held the five Indonesians hostage in the southern Philippines, where it is based, until Philippine security forces rescued four hostages in separate operations on March 18 and 21. One hostage was killed last October, reportedly while trying to escape during a shootout between Philippine troops and Abu Sayyaf militants in the coastal town of Patikul in Sulu province.
Speaking at Monday’s press conference, Arizal recalled the evening more than a year ago when seven members of the Abu Sayyaf group boarded the fishing vessel on which he was one of an eight-man crew. The militants seized the entire crew and held them captive on Setangkai Island, Sulu.
“Our day-to-day lives were miserable. We didn’t eat for two or three days [at a time] and we were so scared for our lives,” he recounted.
The militants often moved the group from one island to another. They also used the fishermen to send a warning that Tambisan waters were no longer safe for fishing.
On March 18, 2021, a boat carrying Abu Sayyaf members and the four Indonesian hostages capsized during bad weather while traveling from an undisclosed location to Tawi-Tawi. Arizal, along with Arsad, Andi and Khairuldin escaped during the incident by swimming toward land, where Philippine troops recued three of them eight hours after the boat incident. The fourth was rescued three days later.
“Thank God I can be together with my family again and celebrate Idul Fitri [with them], just when I thought it was impossible to se them again,” said Arizal, referring to the upcoming Islamic holiday in May.
Retno called on Malaysian authorities to provide tighter security in the waters of Sabah, as the majority of abductions took place in the waters surrounding the Malaysian coastal state on the northernmost tip of Borneo. She also stressed the importance of trilateral cooperation in combating the rampant abductions that occurred in the poorly policed waters in the tri-border area between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
According to the ministry, at least 44 Indonesian sailors and fishermen had been abducted since 2016 in the Sulu-Sabah-Sulawesi maritime triangle, dubbed “the new Somalia”, where the Abu Sayyaf group was active in kidnapping-for-ransom and piracy activities.
Indonesia has vowed to boost economic development in Wakatobi regency, Southeast Sulawesi, from where the four reunited fishermen hail, so local fishermen would not be forced to fish in the dangerous waters of Tambisan for their livelihood.
With all Indonesian hostages held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group now freed, Foreign Ministry director for citizen protection Judha Nugraha said, “Enough is enough. We hope this is be the last [hostage] incident to ever occur.”
