JAKARTA - The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) in Tokyo on Saturday repatriated four crew members (ABK) from Indonesia who have been facing problems in Somalia for the past three months.
The four Indonesian crew members had problems while working on the Dox Dili ship in Somaliland, Somalia, according to a statement from the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo quoted from Antara, Sunday.
The crew members from Central Java have problems because while working on the Dox Dili ship since March 2022, they have not yet received a salary and demanded that the ship immediately pay their salary.
Before reaching the agreement on June 12, 2022, the Indonesian crew members left the ship and then stayed at the hotel.
The crew members admitted that they had received an appointment from their sender's agent in Indonesia that they would be responsible for returning them to Indonesia.
The Dox Dili ship refused to repatriate the crew because they had spent a lot of money to bring in the crew members from Indonesia. Dox Dili asked the crew to return to work and promised that the salaries would be paid, but the crew members insisted they did not want to return to work.
After one month without an agreement, the ship finally allowed the crew to return to Indonesia on condition that they bought their own tickets and paid for the hotel they had occupied since early June.
At the pressure of the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo, Dox Dili finally promised to buy tickets for the crew's return to Indonesia, but refused to pay for the hotel where the crew had been staying for almost two months, arguing it was not the ship that placed them in the hotel.
"The problem is that the crew admitted that they had no money, while the sender's agent from Indonesia, brother L, was irresponsible and disappeared, and could not be contacted," said the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo.
According to the Indonesian Embassy, the problem with the five crew members working on the Dox Dili ship adds to the length of the list of crew members from Indonesia who are facing problems in Somalia.
Previously, the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo had repatriated more than 24 crew members who faced problems while working on Chinese-flagged vessels Liao Dong Yu.
Indonesian Ambassador to Kenya Mohamad Hery Saripudin said that many problems from Indonesian crew members working abroad arise from irregularities in shipping procedures from Indonesia and irresponsible sending agents of the crew.
"In addition, there are also crew members who do not have sufficient knowledge about their work areas abroad," he said.
Ambassador Hery expressed his gratitude for the cooperation and support from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Indonesian Honorary Consul in Somalia, and the Somali Senator from Hargeisha so that the repatriation of the crew from Central Java could be completed.
Ambassador Hery also requested that an examination of the parties responsible, including the agents who sent the crew members to Somalia, which had caused chaos.
Somaliland is a state of Somalia's Federal Republic. In 1991, Somaliland declared itself to be an independent country separate from Somalia but neither country recognized it.
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