Indonesian Police To Name Suspects İn Forced Labor Case
Most suspects from joint Malaysian Thai fishing firm accused of forcing fishermen to work on remote island.
Indonesia's national police have announced that they will name around 20 suspects in a case involving the alleged forced labor of fishermen on a remote island, according to local media Saturday.
Adj. SR. Comr. Arie Dharmanto, the detective division's human trafficking unit chief, told The Jakarta Post that the majority of suspects were from a joint Malaysian-Thai fishing firm -- PT Pusaka Benjina Resources – and that "more people could be involved."
"There are indications of human trafficking carried out by parties from three countries -- Myanmar, Thailand, and Indonesia," Tempo.co "ed him as saying.
Last month, Indonesia moved 319 foreign fishermen – mostly from Myanmar and Cambodia – from Benjina village on eastern Aru island, where many claimed they had been enslaved to catch seafood for international markets.
According to the results of a government investigation, more than 1,450 crewmembers – the majority of them foreigners -- were not paid despite being forced to work extensive hours. Data from Maluku provincial police revealed that around 20-30 workers died in the Benjina each year.
Some fishermen have testified that they were beaten, forced to work almost nonstop without clean water or proper food, paid little or nothing and prevented from going home.
Arie also told the Post that 54 alleged victims and 10 witnesses told authorities that around 312 people had been held in isolation chambers.
"According to the evidence that we have gathered, 'problematic' crew members were locked up in the isolation chambers for one week to six months with a limited supply of food and poor sanitation," he said.
Hermanwir Martino, the fishing firm's site manager, has denied that slavery took place on the island.
Referring to a grave of 77 fishermen allegedly from Thailand, he said last month that they had died from various causes and "not because of forced work or slavery," Metro TV reported.
Arie explained that fishermen from Cambodia and Myanmar were offered jobs in Thailand, but upon arrival in the country, given false documents.
"With documents as a citizen of Thailand, they were sent to Indonesia," Detik.com "ed him as saying.
Indonesia's Capital Investment Coordination Board has revoked the firm's business license on the recommendation of Minister of Marine and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti for offences including illegal fishing, counterfeiting of documents and forced labor, Tribunnews.com reported.
Since becoming Indonesian president last October, Joko Widodo has embarked on a campaign against such illegal fishing with authorities seizing unlicensed vessels and sometimes threatening to sink them.
That campaign intensified in March, when hundreds of foreigners – including Thais - were discovered by authorities dumped on faraway Indonesian islands.
The International Organization for Migration has said that there could be as many as 4,000 foreign men, many trafficked or enslaved, who are stranded on islands surrounding Benjina following a fishing moratorium called by the Indonesian Fisheries Ministry to crack down on poaching.
In late April, Thailand and Indonesia agreed on the sidelines of an Asia-Africa meeting to set up a joint task force to tackle illegal fishing – a practice for which the European Union has issued a stern warning to Bangkok.
Details were not publicly revealed, but Thai government spokesman Yongyuth Malayarp told the Bangkok Post that a memorandum of understanding should soon be signed.
Over 250 Thais have since been repatriated under a joint agreement between the two countries.
Indonesia has some of the world's richest fishing grounds, and the government estimates billions of dollars in seafood are stolen from its waters by foreign crews every year.
Indonesian Police To Name Suspects İn Forced Labor Case
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