"We share the same opinion regarding the need to escort commercial ships. But we need an agreement in the first place," the Navy chief said here on Thursday.
He said that there must be an agreement among the Navy, the ship owners and the government before the escort could really be carried out.
"Since the discourse arose of late, we have been discussing internally," the Navy chief said after leading a ceremony to observe the Navy anniversary.
The discourse on the need to escort Indonesian flagged ships amid increasing incidents of commercial ship hijacking in the Somali waters of late.
The Indonesian government is communicating with Singapore regarding efforts to free MT Gemini ship and its crew members (13 Indonesians) from Somalian hijackers.
The MT Gemini which is based in Singapore with 13 Indonesian sailors and other crew members on board was hijacked by Somali pirates on April 30, 2011.
It happened only one day before other Somali pirates freed MV Sinar Kudus. The Somali pirates hijacked the ship with twenty Indonesian sailors, and 11 others on board, in the Somali waters on March 16, 2011.(*)
(A014/HAJM/B003)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
