REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Coordinating Minister for Political, Security and Legal Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan said here on Thursday that small tugboats used for shipping coal to the Philippines would be given security on a priority basis.
The small tugboats numbering about 15 percent of the total boats used to carry coal from Indonesia to the Philippines would be put in order and instructed to follow the safe shipping lane, even though it would take a bit longer.
"Sometimes tug boats are not disciplined. They often take a short cut but then their crew is abducted. Now we will discipline them to stick to the lane that has been determined,? he said after leading a ministerial-level plenary meeting at the crisis center for hostage release.
Efforts to impart extra-security measures for small-sized tug boats need to be taken because the boats are considered prone to hijacking by armed groups, as in the case of the four such incidents that took place before.
Apart from instructing the boat crew to stick to the determined lane, the government should also weigh stationing a sea marshal on the boats in line with the directives of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Luhut said.
"We are still considering the option according to IMO's directives for these 15 percent of small tug boats," he said.
Other options to secure the Indonesia-Philippine trade lane include a strategy to release 10 citizens, who have been held captive by separatist group Abu Sayyaf, would be discussed during the trilateral meeting between the Indonesian Minister of Defense with his Malaysian and Philippine counterparts in Kuala Lumpur on July 19.
Minister Luhut reiterated that Indonesia would continue prioritizing negotiations to save the hostages as a military option is still difficult to carry out this time.
"Indeed, the best option for us now is negotiations. Besides the companies concerned that would conduct the negotiations, we would also cooperate with the new government of the Philippines, and so far some progress seems to have been made," he said.
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