REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian government should urge the Philippines to implement trilateral cooperation agreed to among Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia to handle robbery and hostage-taking cases in their water areas, a member of House Commission I Elnino MH Mohi remarked.
"We must demand of the Philippines to carry out trilateral maritime patrols properly," Elnino MH Mohi said here on Monday.
He suspected that the Philippine Armed Forces were not capable of securing the release of the Indonesian hostages.
"If the Philippines is not able to free the hostages, we should help its government. Unfortunately, our military cannot conduct its operation in that country," the lawmaker stated.
He referred to the latest case of kidnapping and hostage-taking of an Indonesian citizen.
He called on the government not to compromise in a situation of hostage-taking involving Indonesians, and added that such kidnappings were being allegedly orchestrated by the Abu Sayyaf group.
With regard to the release of Indonesian hostages, he said he trusted the State Intelligence Agency as an institution well equipped with the best abilities to secure freedom of the hostages.
Earlier, the Director of Citizen and Legal Entities Protection of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, had confirmed that several gunmen have abducted the captain of a fishing trawler in the Malaysian waters. He was an Indonesian.
"We were notified on August 5 that the abducted person is an Indonesian captain of a Malaysian flagged-fishing trawler, and that the incident happened in the Malaysian waters," Iqbal said here on Sunday.
Iqbal explained that the fishing trawler was attacked by the gunmen on August 3, at around 4 p.m. local time.
There were two other crew members on board when the incident occurred, but the gunmen released them, and they reported the incident to the police in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia, on August 5.
Following this, the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and consulate general in Kota Kinabalu worked closely with the local authorities, the freed crewmen, ship company, and the Philippine authority, to seek more detailed information, Iqbal added.
According to a local newspaper, The Star, Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSC) director Datuk Wan Abdul Bari Wan Khalid confirmed that a report had been filed by the owner of the fishing trawler on Saturday, two days after the abduction allegedly happened.
Khalid also told the newspaper that the incident did not seem like a usual case of kidnapping and a police investigation is in progress.
At present, the two crewmen and the trawler are being held for investigation.
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