Pirates who launch armed attacks in Indonesian waters should be shot on sight without mercy, Indonesia's navy chief said yesterday.
| "Yar! Hang 'em from the yardarm, Mr. Muslim!" |
'There is a legal basis for this. We are merely defending ourselves if they attack first,' Antara news agency quoted Admiral Bernard Kent Sondakh as saying. 'If they are caught alive, they would only get, at the most, three months in jail. After that, they go pirating again,' he told reporters after presenting special citations to 24 crew members of a Navy ship.
| "Better to stow 'em away in Davy Jones' locker, by Gar!" |
The 24 were commended for thwarting pirates who hijacked and took hostage 36 people on board a tanker in waters off Berhala Island in North Sumatra province last Saturday. Indonesia has the world's worst piracy record, with 21 reported attacks in the first three months of this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau. |