Captain Lin Nan-yang (林喃揚) of the Taiwanese fishing boat Sheng Te Tsai on Thursday talked about “those 120 terrifying minutes” early on Monday morning in the Strait of Malacca when his cabin and another Taiwanese boat were shot at without warning by two Indonesian official vessels.
Lin and Lien I Hsing No. 116 captain Chen Fu-yi (陳福益) told the Central News Agency (CNA) that at 3am on Monday, when it was pitch dark, Lin received a message from Chen saying that two unknown vessels were sailing near his boat.
“The one farther away had its lights on, while the one close to us had no lights on, creating waves that hit the waves from our boat,” he said.
Photo: CNA
Both Taiwanese boats left Donggang (東港) in Pingtung County in November last year. They were sailing alongside each other toward Singapore with full fish loads after operating in the open sea to the southeast of Bangladesh — 121 days after they left their home port.
“Without any warning, the Indonesian patrol vessel turned its spotlight on us and fired four or five shots toward us and chased us for about half an hour before turning to the Sheng Te Tsai,” Chen said.
The Indonesian vessel fired 12 shots at the Sheng Te Tsai and chased the Taiwanese boat for about 90 minutes before turning away, the two captains said.
Lin said he spotted the code 2804 on one of the two vessels.
The No. 2804 vessel sailed close to his cabin, and he saw a camouflaged soldier carrying a rifle.
“He [the soldier] did not make any motion for us to stop, to be inspected,” Lin said.
“If it was a warning, why were the bullets fired at the cabin?” Lin asked. “Far from checking, the shootings were violent enough to kill people.”
Frightened, Lin said he instinctively ducked behind a closet in the cabin while the bullets were flying by.
He said that they were not poaching, as claimed by Indonesian authorities.
They showed their catches of tuna and swordfish to the CNA, saying they were going to Singapore for supplies.
In Jakarta, Indonesian officials said the Indonesian patrol boats were acting according to standard operating procedures — issuing a warning before firing at the Taiwanese boats that they suspected of poaching.
Indonesian Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti said the Indonesian ships had demanded that the Taiwanese boats stop for inspection, but the Taiwanese refused.
She denied that the Indonesian shootings were aiming to kill.
She said that the two Indonesian vessels involved were not military vessels and those suspected of firing at the Taiwanese boats were marine resources and fishery monitoring officials under her ministry.
Indonesian Presidential Chief of Staff and Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Panjaitan also said that the two Indonesian vessels acted completely in accordance with the law.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denounced the use of violence and demanded that Jakarta produce evidence of the Taiwanese fishing boats doing illegal activities that warranted being shot at.
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