BAGAN DATUK: Fishing boat operators in Perak have urged the government to help them get back 17 fishing boats worth almost RM20 million which they said were seized by Indonesian authorities in Malaysian waters this year.
Malaysia Fish Industries General Association secretary Khor Hooi Chin said all these boats were detained in Malaysian territorial waters before being pulled by Indonesian authorities into their waters.
“We the fishing community protest the encroachment by Indonesian enforcement authorities into our country’s waters and we want the authorities there to return our boats as soon as possible.
“We have suffered heavy losses although the fishermen were in our own territorial waters when they were detained. We urge the government to talk with Indonesia for the release of our boats,” he told reporters after attending a dialogue session between the fishing community and government representatives in Hutan Melintang here today.
Khor, one of whose boats has been detained by Indonesia since February, claimed that Indonesia refused to release the boats despite being presented with evidence that the vessels were in Malaysian waters when detained.
“Three of the 17 boats detained were equipped with the global positioning system which showed that our boats were still in Malaysian waters when detained.
“We do not know what the motive of the authorities there was for doing this, but what is important is we want our boats back because we have suffered big losses,” said Khor, who also lost two boats due to Indonesia’s enforcement action in 2015 and 2016.
Khor said the fishing community hoped that the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and the Royal Malaysian Navy could conduct more frequent patrols at the borders of the country’s territorial waters to prevent such incidents from recurring.
Another fishing boat operator, who wished to be known only as Kee, said he lost one boat in similar circumstances in 2016 and was now left with only one boat to continue his family business. — Bernama
