REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- A lawmaker criticized government policy in fighting illegal fishing. Recently the new installed government under President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo state to sink foreign vessel caught in illegal fishing in Indonesian waters. 

"It is just a bluff without preparation," the Chair of Commission I at the parliament Mahfudz Siddiq said on Tuesday, November 25.

He said that the country did not have a strong power to control the waters and he voiced concern that such policy would act like boomerang to Indonesia. Siddiq also urge President Jokowi to explain his maritime-axis vision. 

"Not everyone understands his vision. He should explain it," he said.

As of November 2014, the Ministry of Maritime and Fisheries has detained 35 fishing boats, caught committing illegal fishing in Indonesian waters.

Minister of Maritime and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti noted that based on preliminary data, the 35 vessels detained by the ministry were from Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, among other things.

To continue monitoring the activities of illegal fishing vessels from foreign countries, the Maritime and Fisheries Ministry is deploying radar satellite imagery technology and vessel monitoring system (VMS), a satellite-based monitoring system that provides data at regular intervals to the fisheries authorities regarding the location, course, and speed of a vessel.

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