The relatives of a fishing vessel owner who was allegedly murdered by his Indonesian crew accused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday of failing to assist the family of the victim and of not pursuing the transfer of the suspects from Palau to Taiwan for investigation.
The mother and sisters of the boat owner, Tsai Yun-sheng (蔡允生), and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) told a press conference that the ministry failed to offer any assistance to Tsai's father, who arrived in Palau on Saturday to talk to the Palau navy which had detained the seven Indonesian workers and the fishing boat.
Pan said the Taiwanese embassy in Palau and the ministry did not know of the "unreasonable" request made by the Palau government, which allegedly told Tsai's father that he should pay for the living expenses of the seven workers during their detention in Palau.
"Our government does not have enough personnel to help fishermen [deal with such matters]. Is our diplomacy such a failure?" Tsai's sister Tsai Man-ju (蔡嫚茹) asked.
The murder allegedly took place last Friday morning when the Pingtung-based boat was on a fishing trip near Palau.
Tsai's father told the media on Friday that his son had called him via satellite phone early that day, saying he had been tied up by his crew and that they were about to kill him.
Tsai's body was allegedly tied to a 20kg transmitter and dumped into the water afterwards, according to a report by the Chinese-language China Times on Saturday.
Tsai's body has not been found.
"Statistics provided by the Pingtung County Government show that 61 out of 111 fishermen that had died or were missing between 1996 and this year were [suspected murdered by a foreign crew]," Pang said.
"We have been urging government agencies in charge of these affairs to act to prevent similar tragedies from happening again ... there is usually much said but little done every time something like this happens," he said.
Deputy Director of the ministry's Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Yu Te-sheng (于德勝), who was at the conference, said the ministry was conducting an investigation and had contacted the Palau government upon the hearing news.
The ministry's goal is to have the suspects transferred to Taiwan, where they will undergo investigation, Yu said, adding the ministry had made "favorable progress" in its talks with Palau.
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