REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The government has urged a Taiwanese ship-owning company to provide monetary compensation for the death of five of its Indonesian ship crew members aboard its vessel in the waters of Senegal.

"We always make sure that the rights of our citizens who work abroad are fulfilled. We also urged the employer to take responsibility," Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi said here on Monday.

On April 23, April 25, April 27, April 29, and May 3, five Indonesians were found dead as a result of starvation on the Taiwanese vessel Chi Hsiang Fishery, onboard which they worked as crew. However, the case was reported to the Indonesian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal, and to related authorities only after the ship docked on May 7.

Marsudi explained that her ministry followed a mechanism to protect Indonesian nationals abroad. If they have problems or face difficulties, the government implements it immediately.

"With this mechanism, it is not too difficult to assist our nationals," she claimed.

As part of this process to protect Indonesian nationals abroad, citizens receive an automatic text message with the address and contact details of the government's representatives (embassy or consulate) on arrival in a foreign country.

With regard to the case of the five Indonesians who died in the waters of Senegal, the Directorate of Protection of Indonesian Citizens and Legal Entities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked for a signed document validating commitment from the owner of the ship and the agencies that sent them to work to fulfill the rights of the late ship crew members.

The next process will be decided by the National Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI), which will take action against the agencies for ignoring the condition of the five Indonesians they had sent to work abroad.

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