Sinking Illegal, Foreign Boats Prone to UNCLOS Violation: Expert

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Suryo A.B., the director of geopolitics of the Indonesia Political and Social Research Center, has dubbed the sinking of illegal, foreign boats as an illegal and incorrect move.

Suryo explained the harsh punishment could potentially violate the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982.

“Indeed, there is a written regulation about this, but we also have bilateral agreements,” Suryo said in a discussion in Tebet, South Jakarta on Thursday, December 11, 2014.

Suryo said foreign boats entering Indonesian waters did not only represent their respective companies or individuals, but also the sovereignty of their countries. He said he was worried that the unilateral move to sink the boats could leave an impression that Indonesia had belittled other countries’ sovereignty.

“Instead of continuing to sink foreign boats that violated bilateral agreements, it would be better if we could all have a seat together and talk about maritime agreements,” he said.

Suryo went on that Indonesia could be accused of violating UNCLOS as it stipulated that sea-end guards were the ones with the authority to arrest illegal, foreign boats—whereas such boats had been collectively intercepted by multiple parties, from personnel of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, the Indonesia Navy to the police. “They should be integrated into one legal body,” he said.

Suryo, however, admitted that illegal fishing had cost the nation around Rp90 trillion, and that illegal boats that had been breaching into Indonesian waters hailed from ASEAN countries, including Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and Myanmar.

“There are also those from outside of ASEAN, such as China, Korea, Taiwan and Panama,” he said. 

URSULA FLOREN