Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said at the presidential office here on Thursday the government kept monitoring developments around the incident and had received a report from the Singapore port authority port that the owner of the ship had been able to communicate with the pirates as of May 10.
"The information that we received on May 10 or two days ago the Singapore Port Authority said that the owner of the ship had already communicated with the pirates and confirmed that all crew members according to the captain were all in good condition. They are given meals twice a day and some of them are given an opportunity to contact their family members," he said.
Marty said there had not been reports about ransom demand to the ship owner but the Singapore Port Authority informed that communication would be held between the owner of th shop and the pirates on Thursday afternoon.
"There have not been reports about ransom because the communication was done by the ship owner and the pirates. So there must not be misunderstanding. Whether it is Indonesian or Singaporean flagged we give the same care. We wish our fellow citizens could be released and our attention on the case is the same as when we dealt with the same case before," he said.
Indonesian ship NV Sinar Kudus was recently highjacked by Somali pirates but the piracy could finally be settled with all its crew released.
He said the Indonesian government continued offering the options available and kept communicating with the Singaporean government. He said the crew members on MT Gemini were not only Indonesian citizens but also citizens from other countries and so the handling was multilateral.
"This is multi-lateral. But certainly we care about and are very concerned of their immediate release," he said.
MT Gemini`s owner Glory Ship Management based in Singapore stated MT Gemini was high jacked on April 30 while sailing to Mombassa, Kenya.
It said the pirates took over the ship with 13 crew from Indonesia, five from China, four from South Korea and three from Myanmar.(*)
(H-YH/HAJM/a014)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
