As per the press communiqué of the Indonesian maritime affairs minister who expressed disappointment with Malaysia’s insistence that Indonesian boats had trespassed into its waters in the latest maritime border row. Malaysian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad said that they are disappointed with their attitude as they said the Indonesian boats were in their territory.
Malaysian authorities said that it was the Indonesian maritime authorities’ intrusion into Malaysian waters and subsequent seizure of two boats belonging to Malaysian fishermen. According to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries’ version of events, its patrol boat, the Hiu, detained two Malaysian vessels on Thursday suspected of illegally fishing with trawl nets in the Indonesian part of the Strait of Malacca.
The Malaysian boats were seized by the Indonesian authorities and the boats’ crews, 10 Thai and Burmese nationals are being detained at the naval port of Belawan, North Sumatra, and will be prosecuted on charges of illegal fishing with trawl nets. Minister Fadel said it was “impossible” that the seizure took place in Malaysian territory and that Indonesian patrol boats had recorded the exact coordinates that proved Malaysia’s claims were wrong.
He informed that Malaysian Navy was there during the operation and their ship is very advanced and they don’t have the proper data on that. Yulistyo Mundho, a ministry spokesman, has said the coordinates show the two Malaysian vessels had intruded four to eight nautical miles into Indonesian waters.
