REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia's Coordinating Minister of Politics, Security and Defense, Luhut Panjaitan, has said the incident in which Indonesian ship crew members were taken hostage by an armed group in the south Philippines, was not motivated by any political reasons.

"This is not political, and in our perspective, the culprits are habitual criminals indulging in hijackings," Minister Panjaitan stated after discussing the issue with Vice President Jusuf Kalla here on Monday.

The incident in the Zulu Sea, south Philippines, is the third such in which armed groups hijacked Indonesian vessels. In the first incident, ten seamen were kidnapped in late March, while four other Indonesian sailors were abducted by Abu Sayyaf militants in mid-April.

Minister Panjaitan emphasized that the Indonesian government would not compromise and will take swift and safe measures to secure the release of hostages and strengthen security in the border area to prevent such incidents from recurring.

However, he noted that any plans would be kept discrete, considering the safety of the hostages, the negotiators or other related parties.

"However, I think we will be able to talk to the public in the next two days. Also, efforts were on to verify various inputs to understand what had really happened since there is too much information floating around," Panjaitan stressed.

Earlier on Friday (June 24), Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi revealed that the two vessels -- a tugboat named Charles 001 and a scow called Robby 152 -- were hijacked by two different armed groups on June 20, separately, at around 11:30 a.m. and 12:45 a.m. local time, respectively.

After hijacking, six Indonesian crew and the two vessels were released, while seven others were held hostage by the armed groups.

The six crew members, along with the two vessels, are currently in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.

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