ID :
19788
Tue, 09/16/2008 - 19:41
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/19788
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NAVY TO TIGHTEN SECURITY IN BORDER AREAS
Batam, Sept 16 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Navy will tighten security in the eastern and western sea border areas to minimize various illegal activities such as environmental pollution, smuggling and even manipulation of shipping documents and evasion of tax on Indonesia-Singapore and Indonesia-Thailand routes.
Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Iskandar Sitompul said here on Tuesday the navy's task was not only protecting the country's territorial integrity but also supporting law enforcement efforts at sea.
"Even we will also follow up cases until they are brought to court to assure violators receive sanctions. We will not allow any violator to be finally just released," he said when inspecting foreign vessels that had been seized for illegally dumping wastes in the country's waters and export granite and sand to Singapore.
Although the navy is facing financial difficulties affecting procurement of equipment, armament and personnel it will continue with its efforts to tighten security of the country's waters bordering with other countries, he said.
"We are indeed facing various shortcomings but it does not mean we are relaxing our efforts in securing national waters. We will tighten security in the eastern as well as western borders," he said.
Several cases of environmental pollution have been recorded to happen in the western Indonesian waters this year. In April 7 black oil waste was discovered being dumped in Sambu island, Belakang Padang, Batam and on June 27 the same waste had also been dumped in the Tanjung Riau waters in Batam and the latest on July 24 a patrol unit from the Batan naval base seized Bright Star and MT Hafai boats carrying two tons of black oil waste.
The two boats were operated by PT Golden Star Marine owned by a Singaporean named Bernhard who lived in Samulun island, Singapore.
The company is known to have 16 tankers that have a capacity between 100 to 4,000 tons. The two boats are now held at the navy base in Batam and are being processed, he said.
The navy earlier also foiled attempts to illegally export 5,540 tons of granite and sand to Singapore by four boats belonging to a shipping company in Singapore. The boats were seized on Saturday night and Sunday morning, the chief of the Batam naval base, Col Faisal said on Monday.
If the smuggling operations had been successful, the Indonesia state would have lost Rp35 billion, he said.
Faisal said following the seizure of several tug boats operating in Indonesian waters to Singapore and Thailand so far it was discovered that some operators had manipulated documents.
As an example he referred to the case of TBB Sea Shore 7 that was seized on Sunday. He said the boat carried a mining license under the name of PTB Wira Penta Kencana but in its manifest the license was given to PTB Aneka Mining Sukses without the knowledge of the government of the region where the granite came from.
"In other words, the transfer of license is non-existent," he said.
He said several exporters often did not have tax documents. "It seemed they have ignored them. They would only pay the tax if they were discovered. Meanwhile they could conduct three to four trips every month. Imagine how much is the loss the state could suffer," he said.
From January to September 3 this year, the ministry of fishery and marine resources have seized 186 foreign boats poaching fish in the country's waters. The number is up from 181 last year.
Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Iskandar Sitompul said here on Tuesday the navy's task was not only protecting the country's territorial integrity but also supporting law enforcement efforts at sea.
"Even we will also follow up cases until they are brought to court to assure violators receive sanctions. We will not allow any violator to be finally just released," he said when inspecting foreign vessels that had been seized for illegally dumping wastes in the country's waters and export granite and sand to Singapore.
Although the navy is facing financial difficulties affecting procurement of equipment, armament and personnel it will continue with its efforts to tighten security of the country's waters bordering with other countries, he said.
"We are indeed facing various shortcomings but it does not mean we are relaxing our efforts in securing national waters. We will tighten security in the eastern as well as western borders," he said.
Several cases of environmental pollution have been recorded to happen in the western Indonesian waters this year. In April 7 black oil waste was discovered being dumped in Sambu island, Belakang Padang, Batam and on June 27 the same waste had also been dumped in the Tanjung Riau waters in Batam and the latest on July 24 a patrol unit from the Batan naval base seized Bright Star and MT Hafai boats carrying two tons of black oil waste.
The two boats were operated by PT Golden Star Marine owned by a Singaporean named Bernhard who lived in Samulun island, Singapore.
The company is known to have 16 tankers that have a capacity between 100 to 4,000 tons. The two boats are now held at the navy base in Batam and are being processed, he said.
The navy earlier also foiled attempts to illegally export 5,540 tons of granite and sand to Singapore by four boats belonging to a shipping company in Singapore. The boats were seized on Saturday night and Sunday morning, the chief of the Batam naval base, Col Faisal said on Monday.
If the smuggling operations had been successful, the Indonesia state would have lost Rp35 billion, he said.
Faisal said following the seizure of several tug boats operating in Indonesian waters to Singapore and Thailand so far it was discovered that some operators had manipulated documents.
As an example he referred to the case of TBB Sea Shore 7 that was seized on Sunday. He said the boat carried a mining license under the name of PTB Wira Penta Kencana but in its manifest the license was given to PTB Aneka Mining Sukses without the knowledge of the government of the region where the granite came from.
"In other words, the transfer of license is non-existent," he said.
He said several exporters often did not have tax documents. "It seemed they have ignored them. They would only pay the tax if they were discovered. Meanwhile they could conduct three to four trips every month. Imagine how much is the loss the state could suffer," he said.
From January to September 3 this year, the ministry of fishery and marine resources have seized 186 foreign boats poaching fish in the country's waters. The number is up from 181 last year.
