Calming the waves of wrath

It is a clear-cut case of Malaysian fishermen being arrested by Indonesian authorities in Malaysian waters and Indonesian maritime officers encroaching into Malaysian territory. So, why didn’t Kuala Lumpur explain from the start?

IT is the season again for the “hate-Malaysia” campaigners in Indonesia.

From Jakarta to Sulawesi and Batam, Indonesians have been burning Malaysian flags to show their anger towards the country.

This time, angry demonstrations have been held to protest over the detention of three Indonesian maritime and fisheries officers nearly two weeks ago. The Malaysian embassy in Jakarta never had it so bad.

The demonstrations came to a head last week when protestors vandalised the facade of the embassy. On Monday, faeces was thrown into the embassy compound.

The double-arrest – which saw the Indonesians holding seven fishermen and Malaysia nabbing the three Indonesians – was first highlighted in the Malaysian press three days after it occurred on Aug 13.

Wisma Putra came out with a four-paragraph statement on Aug 16 to say that both countries had agreed to resolve the matter amicably and immediately.

The Foreign Ministry statement, however, did not mention that the Malaysian fishermen were actually arrested by the Indonesians in Malaysian waters. After three days, one would have expected a statement to clarify the situation but for reasons unknown, Wisma Putra decided not to.

One can only speculate that negotiations were still ongoing but on the other side of the border, some Indonesians were already baying for blood.

Indonesia, as expected, was putting the blame squarely on the Malaysian authorities for the arrest of their maritime officers.

Indonesian media reports quoted an official of the Marine and Fisheries Ministry as saying that the incident occurred in the waters off Bintan, Riau.

The truth is, according to Malaysian officials, they received satellite photos that the 15 fishermen in five boats were indeed in Malaysian territory – their GPS clearly showed this. An Indonesian maritime boat which encroached into Tanjung Punggai in Kota Tinggi confronted the boats and arrested seven fishermen.

The marine police who received a report of the incident, despatched two boats and located the Indonesian maritime boat and five Malaysian boats near Middle Rocks on the way to Batam. They were still in Malaysian waters.

Despite attempts to stop the Indonesian boat with the seven fishermen, the Indonesian maritime officers continued to speed off into Indonesian waters.

The Malaysian marine police caught up with the five Malaysian fishermen boats and found three Indonesian maritime officers hiding inside the engine room of two boats, both which had had their GPS thrashed.

The Indonesian maritime officers were brought to the Kota Tinggi police station and the court granted a four-day remand until Aug 18 for further investigation.

Good sense prevailed as Malaysia released the Indonesian maritime officers while Indonesia sent the fishermen home to Malaysia on Aug 17.

Just when we thought things had come to an end, the Indonesian government sent a diplomatic note to protest the arrest, claiming that Malaysia had violated Indonesian integrity because the incident occurred in Indonesian waters.

Indonesia’s Maritime and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad said Indonesia freed the seven fishermen due to lack of proof.

Malaysia has since quietly responded to the note and made it clear that the Indonesians had encroached into Malaysian waters.

It is no surprise that the Indonesian minister is saying otherwise because he needs to pacifiy his countrymen to show that Indonesia is standing up to Malaysia.

But they did so at Malaysia’s expense. Why did Malaysia remain quiet when it knew all along the Indonesians were in the wrong?

Perhaps things would not have escalated if Malaysia had put up its case for all to see from the start. At least to the Malaysian public, the authorities did the right thing.

The authorities should have also been more creative and proactive in dealing with such a crisis.

The police, after arresting the Indonesian officers, could have recorded their statement and let them go.

It would have been better if the police reported the matter to the Foreign Ministry, then a protest note could be sent to Indonesia to say that Malaysia had caught their officers in our waters and have been released.

It would have been a magnanimous thing to do and Jakarta would probably have apologised – or at least one would hope so.