Indonesian authorities made a decision to sink dozens of impounded foreign boats to mark the country’s 72nd independence day on Wednesday (Aug 17) as President Joko Widodo stepped up a campaign to prevent foreign fishrmen for “stealing” in its waters, AFP reported.
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Widodo’s spectacular solution is to blow up foreign fishing vessels and trawlers caught trespassing in Indonesian waters, and hype the dramatic destruction in the media.
The threat is directed mainly at China whose fishing vessels have continuously violated Indonesian waters sometimes escorted by China Coast Guard ships.
On the eve of Independence Day, President Joko Widodo restated his pledge to defend Indonesia’s land and maritime territory. China responded to Widodo’s visit by issuing an official statement saying the waters off the Natuna’s were China’s traditional fishing ground.
Ms Pudjiastuti told a news conference in Ranai, a Natuna Islands port in the southern reaches of the South China Sea, that the ships were sunk off Ranai, Batam, Tarempa, Kalimantan, Maluku, and Sorong in West Papua to create artificial reefs.
Indonesia’s stance on maritime issues has toughened since an global tribunal ruled last month that China’s claims to nearly the entirety of the South China Sea had no basis. The program, which Mr. Widodo has described as “shock therapy” is aimed at stanching some of the $20 billion which Indonesia says it loses to illegal fishing each year. The southeast Asian country has destroyed more than 170 foreign vessels from a number of nations since 2014 as part of its attempts to fight Chinese claims to the waters surrounding the Natuna Islands.
Apart from the show of force, Indonesia also celebrated its 71 independence anniversary by parading the country’s original flag – first hoisted on 17 August 1945 – to the presidential palace for the first time in decades.
And while Jakarta has moved to take a lead on maritime security-recently agreeing to joint patrols with Malaysia and the Philippines-sinking boats alone won’t solve the problem in the absence of a regionwide fisheries management system, said Rodger Baker, senior analyst for East Asia and the Pacific at Stratfor.
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The message behind Wednesday’s sinkings was twofold, Mr. Storey said. “To the rest of the region it’s, “We will strike hard if you try to steal what is rightfully ours”.
