Photo shows the screenshot of the news, which headlined Page 3 of The Borneo Post on July 2, about SFVA calling for an end to encroachment into Sarawak waters by foreign vessels.
I DO not believe for a moment that the authorities, whose responsibility is to protect the Malaysian sea borders from foreign encroachment, did not do their job professionally.
I’m referring to the foreign fishing vessels allegedly exploiting our marine resources with impunity. The Borneo Post, on July 2, quoted vice-president of Sarawak Fishing Vessels Association (SFVA), Mr Ling Kah Wei, as saying that the crew on one such vessel had the cheek to threaten our fishermen with a knife for taking pictures of the boat.
How was it possible for any foreign fishing vessel to be so close to the shoreline of Sarawak without being spotted by boats of our Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA)?
Our Navy?
The SFVA was complaining, at various occasions over the last two months, about foreign fishing vessels – some 20 of them encroaching into our fishing grounds as close as seven nautical miles from the shores at Suai.
Reports of their presence have been lodged by members of SFVA to MMEA for action, but according to the association’s account, by the time a spotcheck was made by the authorities, the boats had disappeared into the horizon – hey, with our fish!
Helpless and powerless to act on their own, members of the association are appealing to the authorities to stop foreign fishermen from further exploiting and depleting our resources. These belong to us and they are for our own fishermen to exploit. No apology for being nationalistic and territorial here.
All seafood freaks, me included, endorse the plea from SFVA. A serious problem – on the surface, it appears fishy, could have been a security lapse. Whatever it is, the authorities should inform the public that an investigation has been carried out and an action proposed to prevent a recurrence.
Cases of encroachment of Sarawak waters, especially around the Miri coast, by foreign fishermen are nothing new. What is new is the seemingly, but allegedly, lack of surveillance this time around.
Letting off our guard? Impossible.
Floating security guard house
I have forgotten how it is called officially. Sometime last year, the authorities were talking about building what I call a floating guard house for the personnel of the MMEA. Those on duty would be able to stay there much longer than on board a ship. From this station, they could conduct patrols of the sea inside our own territorial waters.
What an excellent idea! I hope that the station is also equipped with surveillance equipment such as the drones to detect encroaching vessels.
The off-duty officers can do a lot of fishing, salt or dry the fish and take it home after the stint of duty. That is the sort of job I’d love to do given the chance.
Please, can the public see a photo of the security guard house, if it is not a top secret?
We must have enough manpower and resources with which to undertake surveillance of our part of the South China Sea, a sea lane of considerable economic importance but one that is subject to claims and counter claims by several countries, including our own.
Our own boats with foreign crew?
I may be in uncharted waters on this subject, but I sense that there is something curious when so many foreign fishing vessels, without permission from the appropriate Malaysian licensing authorities, can easily trespass on our territorial waters. Is it not possible that these fishing vessels spotted by our fishermen off the coast of Sarawak for the last two months might have been those licensed by the Malaysian authorities?
But I’m not pointing fingers. A friend familiar with the fishing industry once told me that there were cases of Malaysians owning fishing boats manned by foreign crew. Federal government policy at the time was to promote deep-sea fishing and bigger and stronger boats were required for the purpose. It was perceived that Malaysian fishermen were not for deep-sea fishing. Therefore, foreign crews were employed to man these boats. However, such boats were only meant for deep-sea fishing, not too close to our shores.
If the Malaysian-licensed vessels were fishing in shallow waters in Sarawak, they should not have been where they were spotted, competing with our traditional fishermen who should be fully protected by the government.
The authorities must inform the public that this ‘Ali-Baba’ is a thing of the past; otherwise, our genuine fishermen will be in deep trouble.
Fishing in a foreign country without permission of that country is an incursion; in our case, it’s a violation of the sovereignty of the State of Malaysia.
Hey all you nationalists, defend our sovereignty!
It is as serious as that.
If we want Malaysia to be recognised as a sovereign nation enjoying the protection of the international law, we must take an appropriate action by protecting our coasts by fending off any intruders according to law.
According to the vice-president of SFVA, those vessels spotted near our shores in May and June are believed to be of Vietnamese origin. If true, one expects the Malaysian government to send a note of protest to the Government of the Republic of Vietnam. Government must have done so, I am sure.
But this latest encroachment by an armada of foreign vessels is of concern. Some explanation may be necessary to allay fears of our fishermen.
I don’t believe that the authorities responsible for the safety of our waters are ignoring the pleas of our local fishing community for government intervention, or neglecting their interests at all.
At the time of writing, however, the silence on the part of the authorities was deafening. Hopefully, some positive signal would come after this.