Commission V Asks For Legal Process Of Overloading Cases 3 Times Tunu KMP

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission V DPR Syaiful Huda is concerned about the findings of the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) which revealed the trigger for the sinking of the Tunu Pratama Jaya Passenger Motor Ship (KMP) due to overload or overload up to three times.

Huda urged that the parties involved in the case of negligence in sea transportation must be dragged into the criminal realm.

"The findings of the NTSC if the KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya's cargo is overloaded by 300 percent, we are all amazed. The ship's owner and the crew of the Tunu Pratama KMP must be responsible for their negligence which triggered dozens of casualties," said Huda, Monday, July 28.

"The government must give strict sanctions to those involved in the Tunu Pratama KMP tragedy so that it does not happen again in the future," he continued.

According to Huda, negligence that causes casualties can be subject to Article 359 and Article 360 of the Criminal Code. The article states that anyone due to negligence resulted in the death of another person or serious injuries can be sentenced to a maximum of 5 years in prison.

"The criminal penalty for causing casualties in the sinking of KM Tunu Pratama Jaya, this must be done. There is no tolerance if proven to have committed negligence," said Huda.

"Security elements in using sea transportation should be a priority. But why allow overload up to 3 times which is a violation and then have an impact on sinking the ship and causing casualties?," he continued.

Huda emphasized that the sanctions for fines or revocation of operational permits were not sufficient in the case of the tragedy of KMP Tunu Pratama. According to him, the government needs to take a firm stance by dragging this case to the criminal realm to provide a deterrent effect to ship owners and crew members who are negligent.

The KNKT findings are a bright spot for the sinking of the KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya ship which caused casualties. This is a pathetic ship accident. The finding of three times overload cannot be taken lightly. Law with severe punishment to provide a deterrent effect," he said.

Apart from the Criminal Code, the PKB legislator from West Java said that criminal snares are also regulated in Law Number 17 of 2018 concerning Shipping.

In Article 302 of the Shipping Law, it is stated that the Nahkoda who sailed the ship while the person concerned knew the ship was not seaworthy in accordance with Article 117 paragraph 2, was sentenced to a maximum imprisonment of 3 years or a maximum fine of Rp. 400 million. If there are casualties and property losses, the penalty will be increased to 10 years and a fine of Rp. 1.5 billion.

"I ask the government to enforce the law to parties proven to have committed negligence which caused casualties in the KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya accident. Punishment must be given accordingly and without any intervention in any interests," he concluded.

The NTSC has submitted findings of an investigation regarding the cause of the sinking of KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya in the Bali Strait on Wednesday, July 2. The findings state that KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya has experienced a charge of up to three times the maximum capacity and the vehicle inside is not tied (lashing).

The cargo that should have had a capacity of 138, but based on the results of the KNKT investigation, the content was excessive up to 538 tons. In the incident, it was recorded that 19 people died and dozens more were missing after carrying out the search process after drowning.