Govt Gets to the Bottom of Indonesian Ship Crews Abuse Cases

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Coordinating Ministry of Maritime and Investments on Sunday announced the establishment of a dedicated national team to handle problems regarding Indonesian ship crews aboard foreign vessels. One of the main issues is the permit that allows such situations to take place. 

“It used to be convoluted, but now everyone has coordinated with each other,” said the Ministry’s  Maritime Sovereignty and Energy Coordination Deputy, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa on Sunday, July 19. 

Despite already investigating which government body has the authority to issue such permits, Purbaya said that solving it can be considered a tall order and believes it will not be solved quickly. “However, cases of abandoned Indonesian ship crews are able to be responded quickly.”

Indonesian public has witnessed numerous cases of violence committed against Indonesian ship crews aboard foreign-flag fishing vessels with the recent happening in June 2020, which saw North Sumatran Andri Juniansyah and West Nusa Tenggara Reynafli being mistreated and intimidated aboard a Chinese fishing vessel. 

Both men were so distressed that they decided to flee the abuse and jumped overboard at the Malaka Strait to eventually be rescued by fishermen at Riau Island’s Tanjung Balai Karimun after spending 7 hours floating at sea. 

Another case that captured the public’s attention also happened in June after an Indonesian ship crew identified as Hasan Afriadi died aboard a Chinese fishing vessel who had his body kept in the ship’s fish refrigeration unit for 15-days before the Indonesian National Police discovered his body, who died due to the abuse the Indonesian ship crew sustained aboard the Chinese fishing vessel. 

During the aforementioned cases, the Tempo team found that there were overlapping permits that allowed the Indonesian ship crews to work aboard the foreign fishing vessels. The permits were issued by the Manpower Ministry and the Transportation Ministry. 

Apart from establishing a dedicated team, the ministry has also introduced a website that can handle immediate reports on Indonesian ship crews who are at the end of the stick of abusive foreign fishing vessels. The website can be accessed at https://maritim.go.id/form-pelaporan-kasus-penelantaran-awak-kapal-indonesia-copy/

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FAJAR PEBRIANTO