| By Andi Adussalam |
Jakarta, May 8 (ANTARA) - The influx of cheaper Chinese goods in Indonesia following the implementation of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) can be a signal that the country is not yet well prepared to face free trade. In a borderless regional grouping like the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) which the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is going to establish in 2015, the flow of goods will no longer be arranged with a tariff reduction. Goods, investments and other trade commodities will flow freely without any barriers. The consequence is that countries which are not yet efficient in the production process will suffer from the glut of imported goods on the one hand, and will on the other face difficulties to penetrate overseas market within the region. Moreover, the levels of economic progress, gross domestic product and per capita income of countries within ASEAN still vary. The more advanced ones like Singapore will definitely take advantage of such an economic community. Can Indonesia plunge itself with enough strength into the borderless community within the region? ASEAN leaders have declared 2015 as the beginning year of the ASEAN economic community integration with the flows of goods, investment and migrant workers are to be integrated like in one country. "The AEC will turn ASEAN into a status more than that of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) which arranges only tariff reduction for the imports, exports and services. This requires a strong economic structure of the member states," Adhitya said. As the ASEAN chair, Indonesia should have a strong commitment if it wants to integrate the economies of ASEAN member states. Yet, it would not be able to do it optimally if its own economic conditions at home are still chaotic. "The government has the strong and exceptional ambition towards the creation of the AEC in 2015, but the progress of its own economy is still far from that of Singapore and Malaysia," he said. After all, the Indonesian government is yet to have clear policies and regulations such as business competition and ant-dumping to protect its business players. Thus, it will still face many challenges in the implementation of AEC in 2015. "If Indonesia is able to improve its economic infrastructure and realize the ASEAN economic integration, the AEC would emerge as an exceptional economic power in the world," Adhitya who is also a lecturer on monetary economy in the Jember University, said. However, he said, the commitment of ASEAN members to implement an integrated economic community is not yet maximal. Some members are still reluctant to slow down their economic sovereignty in order to balance the economies of other ASEAN members. In an extreme term, some even exploit others for their individual benefit, according to legislator Fayakhun Andriadi of the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission I for defense and foreign affairs. Fayakhun reminded that it should not happen certain ASEAN members continued to entertain their egoistic attitude for their individual interest, even justifying all means to 'exploit' the resources of other member countries. "Mutual exploitation should be stopped. Indonesia should take a firm attitude. It should not continue to give in, or to become a loser," the Golkar Party politician stressed in connection with the ASEAN Summit here on May 7-8, 2011. He said that through the ASEAN Summit, Indonesia should dare ask ASEAN members to stop their unfair practices. "We have to build common strength for our common progress by abstaining from mutual exploitations for individual interest," Fayakhun said. He referred to a number of neighboring countries which were trying to capitalize on new values in the free trade system, especially with regard to the World Trade Organization (WTO). "There are many examples of cases which have become a public secret on that matter. Under the cloak of free trade values they turn us a hinterland and exploit us," he said. Faykhun also reminded that Indonesia and a number of other ASEAN members should not be fooled with scenarios, for example, the open sky policy. "This will benefit smaller country and disadvantage us who have fly zones as spacious as that of European space. This is unfair," he said. In the trade sector, Fayakhun criticized the fact that Singapore had served as if it was the only gate for Indonesian exports and import. "Why exports and imports are carried out as if there was only one gate. Why can't them be shipped directly through Tanjung Priok port. Exports and imports carried out through a certain country will benefit it a lot in the form of margin transit gains," the lawmaker said. He said he did not share the opinion which said that all kinds of trade transactions on commodities or money must be through Singapore because Singapore was an international trade hub. "We cannot simply be resigned in that way. We should be aggressive in laying down network directly to consumers. It should not happen that we are the producer of a commodity but Singapore is its exporter. This is funny. Singapore is not a nutmeg producer but it is the world's biggest nutmeg exporter," he said. If all these unfair problems exist and left unresolved, Fayakhun said he was not sure the idea to establish an integrated economic community and a single currency in ASEAN would be realized. Yet, it seems, Indonesia is convinced with the AEC scheme. Achieving significant progress in the efforts to form an ASEAN Community by 2015 is one the three main priorities of Indonesia's policies as this year's ASEAN chair. "As the ASEAN chairman this year, Indonesia has three priorities and the first is to ensure significant progress in efforts to establish an ASEAN Community by 2015," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in his address at the opening of an ASEAN-European Union Business Summit at the Jakarta Convention Center on Thursday.***5*** |
Sabtu, 07 Mei 2011
ASEAN COMMUNITY FACES ECONOMIC DISPARITY PROBLEM
ASEAN CONSIDERING TRANSACTIONS IN LOCAL CURRENCIES
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, May 7 (NATARA) - The idea to create a single currency for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) seems difficult to realize soon due in part to the different levels of gross domestic product among the ASEAN members and the absence of a strong institution to deal with threats in the financial sector. Yet, conducting trade transactions using local currencies within the region is another choice that could be implemented to avoid risks that might arise when using a third party currency like the US dollar. Finance Minister Agus Martowadojo said the 10 ASEAN members + 3 (Japan, China, South Korea) will consider the use of local currencies in making trade transactions among member countries. "We also discussed efforts to encourage the use of local currencies in trade transactions, namely the local currency in respective country. This would be effective in the trade transactions within ASEAN members or in the trade between ASEAN states and China, Japan and South Korea. We are still discussing this matter," the finance minister said. As preparations for the realization of this idea, the central banks of ASEAN countries and those of the three partner states are now studying the possibility of implementing a bilateral swap agreement. "The bilateral swap agreement will be implemented using local currency, for example between Indonesia and Japan, Indonesia and China and Indonesia and South Korea. Ideally, the central banks of these countries should work together and study the possibility of the implementation of a bilateral swap agreement," the minister said. According to the ASEAN Secretariat's website, finance ministers from China, Japan, South Korea and ASEAN have several years ago agreed to expand their system of bilateral currency swaps under the Chiang Mai Initiative to a more multilateral system. The ministers, meeting as the "ASEAN-plus-3" on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual meeting in Istanbul, said this would make the Chiang Mai Initiative a "more effective and disciplined framework." According to Pedro Paez Perez, former minister for economic policy coordination of Ecuador, the formation of regional monetary could increase coordination of monetary policies among states and help prevent currency fluctuations. "Cooperation of among states in the region could prevent them from unnecessary debts and could develop their own natural resources to increase the working productivity of their people," he said. He said that Asian countries need to stabilize their regional currencies and set up multilateral loan agency such as the one done by Latin American countries. "Countries in the South need to do this so that they would no longer depend on the economic system of the Western Countries," he said in Jakarta on Thursday. In this case, ASEAN needs to stabilize its local currencies for trade transactions, including the utilization of the currency swap facility. The use of local currencies in trade transactions could minimize risks compared with using a third party currency such as the US dollar. Thus, the plan of ASEAN members to use local currencies is a good breakthrough. "I think this is a good breakthrough and this needed to be followed up. If we use the third party currency in conducting trade transactions the value can usually change, thus risks can emerge," Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said. However, the minister could not yet assure when the local currencies would be realized because it still needed optimal preparations and popularization. "Maybe it is still a long way to go. It would still be discussed at the deputy prime ministerial level in the first place. Yet, if all have the commitment, it could be realized soon," the minister said. At least this could be implemented before hand, before a single currency is created. Virtually, ASEAN has a good prospect for a single currency like the euro by the European Union, as the regional association's trade has been accumulating hundreds of millions of US dollars each year. Diponegoro University economist Nugroho SBM said that ASEAN remains an important geopolitical and economic power in Asia, and even in the world, and therefore a single currency will strengthen it against pressure from the US dollar for instance. With ASEAN having a single currency, he said, the strong effect of the US dollar in that part of the world would be sterilized and thus strengthening the monetary position of the ASEAN countries. "Indeed, it would take a very long time. The European Union alone needed 60 years before agreeing to use the euro as a single currency, bit it would be better to discuss the foundation of an ASEAN single currency from now on," he said. He said Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines may serve as a driving power for the formation of a single currency because they have a dominating trade volume among the ASEAN member countries, he said.***5*** |
Jumat, 06 Mei 2011
ASEAN COUNTRIES SHOULD ACCEPT WORKERS FROM WITHIN REGION
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, May 6 (ANTARA) - In line with their plan to create a more integrated economic community in 2015, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member countries need to open themselves up to migrant workers from within the region, protect them and give them a chance to improve their own welfare. "Migrant workers in ASEAN or ASEAN migrant workers who are outside the region need protection. ASEAN countries also need to open themselves to migrant workers from other member countries such as Indonesia," head of the National Agency for Placement and Protection of TKIs Abroad (BNP2TKI), Moh Jumhur Hidayat said on Friday. Therefore, Jumhur called on ASEAN which is holding its 18th summit this weekend to discuss migrant workers' problems and open itself for employment of Indonesian workers (TKI) in its members. The Indonesian manpower official made the statements in response to the fact that so far only three ASEAN members had recruited Indonesian migrant workers (TKIs), namely Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam. "I have often received complaints from employers in a number of ASEAN member countries who need TKIs but they would either not allow it or impose too tight regulations so that they could receive migrant workers from Indonesia,"Jumhur Hidayat said. He said that it was important for ASEAN countries to employ more skilled workers from Indonesia. Indonesia had a large number of skilled workers who were ready to be placed in different ASEAN nations. Indonesian formal workers were able to compete in filling employment in the ASEAN manpower market. "We have a lot of workers who are skilled, semi-skilled or professionals. These people are ready to be recruited in ASEAN member countries," Jumhur Hidayat said. But the problem Indonesia is facing now is that not all of the ASEAN countries are prepared to open their doors to TKIs, so Indonesian formal workers have no chance to work in those countries. He said that the Indonesian government was launching intensive promotions of its formal workers in various countries in Europe, Australia, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea and others. "Japan and countries in the Middle East are main destinations for Indonesian migrant nursery workers. They admitted that the Indonesian nurses have good skills. Demand for Indonesian nurses from these countries continue to increase every year," the BNP2TKIS chief said. Indonesia, which placed almost one million workers in Malaysia, also called for labor protection after seeing many of its workers were physically abused or not properly paid abroad. It is in this context that ASEAN was urged to include the migrant worker issues in its agenda during the its 18th summit in Jakarta Saturday and Monday (May 7-8, 2011) "The issue must not be discussed at a ministerial level only but also at the ASEAN summit," he said. Migrant workers are an important issue requiring an immediate handling. So far, the existing policy is normative and discussions at ASEAN levels have never progressed, according to Wahyu. Therefore, the ASEAN summit could not be declared successful if it produced no policy or commitment to migrant workers' protection. "At least there is commitment to ratifying the US convention on migrant workers," he said. However, according to Indonesian Minister for Manpower Affairs Muhaimin Iskandar, as a labor-sending and receiving region, ASEAN had committed itself to protecting migrant workers. ASEAN in its summit, he said, is expected to issue a recommendation on protection of migrant workers. The recommendation would deal among others with occupational security and protection, and social insurance. He said relevant ministries of each ASEAN member state was in the process of finalizing the draft of the recommendation. He said the ASEAN summit would issue a recommendation consisting of three points namely security for workers during migration, security and protection during working and social security or insurance for workers. Muhaimin said that his ministry was also preparing a bill on protection of domestic helpers and would soon bring it to a meeting of relevant ministries for discussion. Once the bill was passed into law, it would provide basic protection to domestic helpers, including guarantee of no violence and rights to fair employment and protection, he said.***4*** |
Kamis, 05 Mei 2011
RI TO FREE ITS CPO EXPORTS FROM TRADE BARRIERS
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, May 6 (ANTARA) - Indonesia, the world largest crude palm oil producer, has formed a special team to identify various kinds of trade barriers that hamper its commodity exports, particularly CPO, to the European Union (EU). "We hope we can finish soon the identification of the trade barriers and overcome them so that our exports to Europe would not face constraints. The team has begun working now," Trade Minister MS Hidayat said after attending an ASEAN-EU Business Summit at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on Thursday. With the results of the verifications on the trade standards imposed by countries grouped in the European Union (EU), industry at home is expected to adjust its products so that Indonesia's exports to the European Community would be smooth. Yet, Indonesia also hopes that the European Union would also make adjustments as the trade standards it is imposing on Indonesian products are too high. He said that the trade barrier Indonesia felt so far on its export products was non-tariff one. This includes non-tariff barrier imposed on its crude palm oil exports. The non-tariff barrier being faced by Indonesia's CPO was the inclusion of the environment issue into the verification standard, like the history of the oil palm plantation from which the CPO is produced. This is further worsened by recent black campaign against the imports of CPO into Europe. The negative campaign on Indonesian CPO was associated with the land clearing and environmental degradation. It has an impact on CPO exports to Europe in the first quarter of this year. The union has imposed the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals or REACH regulation since June 1 2008 to protect the environment and air from the contamination resulted from the chemical substances at the imported products. Executive Director of the Indonesian Oil Industry Association (GIMNI) Sahat Sinaga was quoted recently by New Business Idea Website as saying that in the first quarter of this year palm oil exports amounted to 4.6 million tones. The figure was down from the realization of the same quarter of 2009 which amounted to 4.8 million tones. "It dropped because of the negative campaigning. They divert supplies to other products," he said. Minister Hidayat said that the trade standard imposed by EU on its CPO import was too high. This because the EU rejected CPO which is produced from plantation on peat land. Virtually, CPO exports to Europe are not too big if compared with those exported to the countries in Asia, Africa and the United States. "Yet, no matter how small the barrier is, it should be overcome together in order to guarantee the prospect of our CPO at home," Hidayat said. The European Union, which groups 27 European countries, is the second largest trade partner of Indonesia with a bilateral trade amounting to Rp253 trillion annually. Indonesia's exports to all European countries accounted for Rp177 trillion while those shipped to European Union totaled Rp75 trillion. Increasing its CPO exports to the Union would help expand its bilateral trade. With total oil palm plantations now recorded at 7.3 million hectares, Indonesia could produce 21.5 million tons of crude palm oil. In 2020 the country expects to increase its annual production to 40 million tons. Therefore, Indonesia is the most potential CPO supplier for Europe in the future. At present, crude palm oil industry is the country's second biggest foreign exchange earner after the oil and gas sector. To secure more European CPO market in the future, the Indonesian government recently through the agriculture ministry launched an oil palm green product campaign in Europe, Spain and France in particular. According to Agriculture Minister Suswono the oil palm green product campaign was designed to convey information and communicate the policy and efforts to develop the national oil palm industry by paying attention to the principle of sustainability. "The campaign was held in the forms of seminars and meetings with the related officials of Indonesia, Spain and France," the minister said. Minister Suswono said, he conveyed the Indonesian government commitment in the implementation of the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil System and concern on the environmental criteria listed in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) that has potential as a Non-Tariff Barrier in the trade. "The French government understands the Indonesian concern and expects inputs from the results of palm oil research which can be used as an evaluation of policies related to the use of palm oil in the country," Suwono said.***5*** |
RI TO FOSTER ASEAN-EU ECONOMIC COOPERATION
| by Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, May 5 (ANTARA) - Indonesia, current chair of ASEAN, is leading an effort to foster economic and trade cooperation between ASEAN and the European Union, two regions if combined together would form a huge market of one billion population and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of US$16.7 trillion. In order to realize this, ASEAN and the European Union are now in a process to conclude a Comprehensive Partnership Agreement (CPA), according to Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said. The first ASEAN-EU Business Summit was held on Thursday at the Jakarta Convention Center. Mari said some ASEAN countries were also bilaterally conducting negotiations with the EU partners regarding the formulations of the agreement. ASEAN which is resolved to establish an integrated ASEAN Community in 2015 can learn a lesson from the experience of the European Community for the development of its regional cooperation. In its capacity as the ASEAN chair 2011, Indonesia as part of strengthening ASEAN-EU cooperation, will emphasize three priorities in this week's ASEAN Summit, namely formulating steps to achieve the ASEAN Community in 2015, to turn ASEAN as a safe, peaceful and stable region and to promote a post-ASEAN Community 2015 initiative to face global challenges. A peaceful, stable and integrated ASEAN is expected to be able to face challenges. And in this regard it needs a lesson from the EU Community. "Europe has a much longer experience in economic integration and community building. ASEAN has and will continue to learn from the European experience," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said when opening the first ASEAN-EU Business Summit at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC). During the opening of the ASEAN-EU Business Summit, which was held ahead of the 18th ASEAN Summit to be held at the Jakarta Convention Center from May 7-8, 2011, the president stressed the importance for the two sides to have a formal economic cooperation agreement. "This includes discussing a formal economic cooperation agreement between ASEAN and Europe," he said at the Business Summit which was attended by around 400 businessmen from European and Southeast Asian counties. The business summit itself was seen as a milestone in the history of the two regions' business relations. "I hope that this event will enable us to better deal with the existing challenges," Chief Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said meanwhile adding that to be able to follow up on the summit there would be more business-to-business and business-to-government contacts. Director for international trade cooperation of the Trade Ministry Gusmardi Bustami said talks in the ASEAN-EU Business Summit would focus on five sectors, namely infrastructure, agribusiness, pharmacies, automotive and services. He said that the European Union which grouped 27 European countries was one of the main export destinations of products from the ASEAN countries which have a combined population of 500 million. If the markets of the two regions (ASEAN-EU) are combined, it will reach a population of one billion with a total GDP of 16.7 trillion US dollars per annum. Trade between EU and ASEAN last year reached 147 trillion euros. EU is ASEAN's second biggest trade partner while ASEAN is EU's fifth biggest trade partner. EU is also the biggest investor in Southeast Asia. According to President Yudhoyono, ASEAN and EU clearly are important to each other, as EU is the second largest trade partner for ASEAN, and the largest investor, while ASEAN is EU's fifth largest trading partner. Thereby, the ASEAN-EU Summit should also be used as a chance to play a role in changing the paradigm on which economic policies are made, to turn the tide of events in favor of both regions. ASEAN-EU Business Summit is a high level forum for business players and governments to deal with problems arising from trade relations between the two regional groupings. Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu who is also chief of ASEAN economic ministers said earlier the summit was intended to look into business and investment opportunities in both sides. The outcome of the summit will be brought to an annual meeting of ASEAN and EU economic ministers for approval. However, earlier on Wednesday, the ASEAN civil societies warned the regional grouping against the disadvantage the ASEAN would suffer if it concluded a free trade agreement with the European Union. The warning was expressed by civil societies of the Southeast Asian nations grouped in the ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC) / ASEAN People's Forum (AFP). The ASEAN-EU free trade agreement, which would be signed on Thursday (May 5) can harm the interest of ASEAN members as developing countries, particularly if seen from the aspects of state sovereignty and government support for people's interest, the ACSC/APF said in a press statement. They, among others, cited as an example the EU-ASEAN patent right agreement which required ASEAN generic drugs to wait for one year longer before they could produce similar patent drugs. Member of Malaysian parliament Charles Santiago, who is also a noted civil society figure, said that the agreement would in the end destroy generic drug industry in ASEAN countries. "It is clearly not a win-win solution because it would not produce a balanced result for us as developing nations," he said. The free trade agreement is also viewed as to endanger the sovereignty of the state because European firms would be allowed to suit ASEAN countries at the International Court of Justice if they found a policy they considered harmful to them.***2*** |
Selasa, 03 Mei 2011
RI STILL HAS TO RESCUE 13 MORE HIJACKED SAILORS
| 03-MAY-11 NAT JKT |
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, May 3 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) which was successful in freeing 20 Indonesian sailors held hostage by Somali pirates on the MV Sinar Kudus in Somali waters on Sunday, still has to free 13 others aboard the MT Gemini which was hijacked by Somali pirates on Saturday, April 30, 2011. On Sunday, in cooperation with the ship's owner which paid a ransom to the hijackers, twenty Indonesian sailors, and 11 others of other nationalities, were released by Somali pirates after they were held hostage for 46 days since their ship MV Sinar Kudus was hijacked in Somali waters on March 16, 2011. However, a day before the 20 Indonesian sailors were released, the Somali pirates again hijacked another ship, the MT Gemini which is based in Singapore with 13 Indonesian sailors and other crew members of other nationalities on board. The Singapore-based Glory Ship Management which owns the MT Gemini said the ship was pirated on Saturday while it was sailing to the port town of Mombassa, Kenya. It said the crew members included 13 Indonesians, five Chinese, four South Koreans and three Myanmarese. "They were hijacked in Kenya and taken to the north where the headquarters of the hijackers is located, " Chief Security Minister Djoko Suyanto said on Tuesday. Somali pirates were able to carry out hijacking in several places at the same time because they consisted of more than ten organized groups, which according to National Defense Forces (TNI) Commander Admiral Agus Suhartono each have about 30 to 50 members. "There were about 15-20 organized groups with each group consisting of 30-50 members," Agus said. In an effort to free the 13 Indonesian sailors and their friends of other nationalities, Indonesia and Singapore, where the hijacked ship is based, have been developing communications. Chief Security Minister Djoko Suyanto said the government had communicated with Singapore's Maritime Security Force regarding efforts to release MT Gemini ship hijacked by Somali pirates since Saturday. "I have contacted the Maritime Security Force in Singapore. It happened by chance that its director is my old friend. Up to last night, they have not yet been able to communicate with Gemini ship," the minister said after opening a "Maritime Security Desktop Exercise and Law of the Sea Course" on Tuesday. He said that pirates would open communicate after they arrive in their headquarters such as the case of 'Sinar Kudus' ship. "They (MT Gemini) were hijacked in Kenya and taken to the north where the headquarters of the hijackers is located. The Maritime Security Force has not had any communications with the ship. Usually, they will open communications after they arrive at their headquarters," Djoko said. He said that the Indonesian government through the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry, continued to communicate with the Singapore government. In this case, Indonesia will cooperate with Singapore in the hostage-taking operations. This case was also stressed by TNI Chief Admiral Agus Suhartono. Indonesia will coordinate with Singapore to secure the release of 13 Indonesian sailors on the Singaporean-flagged MT Gemini, Agus Suhartono said. He said it was true a Singaporean-flagged ship had been hijacked by pirates and 13 members of its 25-man crew were Indonesians. "We will coordinate with Singapore so that activities to be carried out to save the crew must be approved by the Singaporean government," he said. He said efforts to save the crew would possibly be done by the TNI task force recently carrying out a military operation in Somalia. In the operation to release the Indonesian-flagged "Sinar Kudus" TNI had deployed an LPD, two frigates, a helicopter and a special unit consisting of personnel from the marine unit, the army's special force and the army's strategic reserve command. Regarding the possibility of Indonesia joining the Combined Task Force One Five One (CTF 151) led by Singapore, Agus said that he had already sent two middle-ranking officers in the CTF 151. "The presence of the officers has been proven effective especially for securing Indonesian-flagged ships that pass the Somali waters. Even they have intensively helped the officers in dealing with the recent piracy of Sinar Kudus," he said. Agus said the CTF was only for securing the shipping lane in the Gulf of Aden. "So the shipping lane is secured by multinational forces requiring ships on the lane to pass through certain points that are secured by them. No talks however have been done with regard to securing ships already pirated," he said. In this case, international law expert Hikmahanto Juwana said the piracy incident befalling Indonesian-flagged ships was a strong reason for Indonesia to take part in the international war against piracy. "The Indonesian government must take part in the international wars against Somali pirates, against their operators in Somalia and in other countries," Hikmahanto said recently. The Indonesian government needed to encourage the United Nations to provide assistance for the Somali government so that Somalia would rise from its bankruptcy. "The increasing incidents of piracy in the Somali waters are a result of the fact that the people of Somali are not able to obtain proper employment," Himahanto said.***6*** |
Minggu, 01 Mei 2011
SOMALI PIRATES FINALLY RELEASE INDONESIAN SAILORS
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, May 1 (ANTARA) - Twenty Indonesian sailors, and another 11 of other nationalities, were released by Somali pirates on Sunday after they were held hostage for 46 days since their ship MV Sinar Kudus was hijacked in the Somali waters on March 16, 2011. "On behalf of PT Samudera Indonesia, we hereby state that the 20 Indonesian crew members of MV Sinar Kurdus have been released by the Somali pirates," David Batubara, vice president of PT Samudera Indonesia, owner of the cargo ship said here on Sunday. They were released after a certain amount of the ransom had been agreed to by the hijackers, and PT Samudera Indonesia paid in the small hours of Sunday. Paying ransom was the option rather than launching a military action following calls for priority to be given to the safety of the hostages. However, PT Samudera Indonesia refused to disclose the amount of the ransom it has paid to the Somali pirates. "This is a matter of the safety of the Indonesian crew in other ships still held hostage by the pirates. Though the ship (MV Sinar Kudus) is an Indonesian cargo ship, we cannot disclose the amount of the ransom we have paid to the pirates," David Batubara said. He said that there were still other ships with Indonesian crew members and also flying the Indonesian colors, still held hostage by Somali pirates. "Any information will be very sensitive," David said. He cannot reveal the source of the money nor the mechanism of payment to the pirates. He only stated that the amount of the ransom paid to them did not reach US$4.5 million. "The amount of the ransom as reported is not accurate as it was much higher than than the sum agreed to with the pirates through telecommunication," David said. According to a report, the pirates had released the ship after the ransom had been dropped on them from the air. "We received the 4.5 million US dollars ransom in the small hours of Sunday. We have left the ship and Sinar Kudus was set to start sailing," one of the pirates, who told Reuters his name was Geney from a coastal village of El Dhanane. The Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Spokesman Rear Admiral Iskandar Sitompul said the government had earlier decided to combine two options of negotiations and military operations in efforts to free the sailors. The combination of the two options is in line with a suggestion of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made in a cabinet meeting on March 18, 2001, two days after the ship was hijacked. TNI sent a number of military personnel, three ships, one aircraft and a helicopter to carry out the mission. But finally, military attack was resorted to for the sake of hostages' safety. The choice was paying the ransom as demanded by the hijackers. "We only backed it from behind in a very close range," Iskandar said. He said that TNI did not launch an attack for a number of reasons, among others, based on a suggestion of the Indonesian Commercial Skippers Association. It suggested that the government prioritize negotiations. "The relatives, wives and children of those held hostage also asked that efforts should be in the form of diplomacy," he added. After all, the position of MV Sinar Kudus which had lowered anchor was in the middle of two other ships from other countries. A military operation in such a position could lead to the fall of many victims, including those on the ships of other countries, he said. Therefore, the Indonesian side decided to pay the ransom. And as a result, the pirates released them on Sunday. "The 20 MV Sinar Kudus crew members were released after being held hostage for 46 days. The release was made following negotiations," David said. MV Sinar Kudus was hijacked by the Somali pirates about 512 kilometers north of East Socotra in the Somali waters with a crew of 31, including 20 Indonesians. "The 20 Indonesian crew members are reported to be in good health and in safety condition. The crew members have fully taken control of the ship," David said. He said that Sinar Kudus had left the Somali waters at 1.10 pm local time or 5.10 Western Indonesia Time (WIB) on Sunday. It will be escorted by a TNI ship to a place determined by the ship's owner. "All (Indonesian crew) have been released. TNI personnel there will escort it to a safer place," Iskandar Sitompul said in a joint press conference with the executives of PT Samudera Indonesia here on Sunday night. According to the TNI spokesman, the ship needed to be escorted because there were about 15 groups of Somali pirates operating separately in the Somali waters. "If we do not escort it, the ship faces a risk of being hijacked again," Iskandar said. The pirates were highly trained and well organized. Each of the groups owned teams with respective tasks, such as to intercept, negotiate and to be responsible for arms. In the meantime, the Foreign Affairs Ministry through its spokesman Michael Tene expressed a warm welcome to the news about the release of 20 Indonesian sailors on board of MV Sinar Kudus which has been detained by Somali pirates since March 16. "We are pleased to hear about the release and that the sailors are in a good condition," said the spokesman adding that the Indonesian government always care for the condition of its citizens including the sailors.***3*** |