Objection letter sent to Wisma Putra over provocation faced by local fishermen

ISKANDAR PUTERI - Kota Iskandar assemblyman Datuk Pandak Ahmad will send a letter of objection to Wisma Putra regarding the Singaporean authorities' action purportedly driving away 10 local fishermen who were in the country's waters at 5.30pm on Sunday.

He said the letter was important to notify the Foreign Ministry of the issue faced by over 400 fishermen in southern Johor area in Iskandar Puteri who claimed that they faced provocation from the neighbouring country's authorities.

"The issue with the Singaporean authorities against the Iskandar Puteri fishermen was not something new, it had been happening since five years ago.

"The fishermen are unable to tolerate it anymore when it happened again on Sunday when they were cursed at and this should not have happened to them," he said in a press conference in Kampung Pendas Laut, here on Tuesday.

Pandak said the letter would also be sent to the Singaporean consulate in Johor Bahru on Thursday.

On Monday, it was reported that police were carrying out investigations on the incident between a group of Malaysian fishermen and the Singaporean coast/border guard that was believed to have happened in the waters near the republic's border.

Meanwhile, the fishermen involved in the incident on Sunday were upset by the Singaporean authorities' action swearing at them.

Syamsul Raihan Mohd Noor, 40, said the incident happened when the Singaporean coastal guards drove him and the other fishermen away for the reason of entering the republic's waters.

"My fellow fishermen friends and I have not gone against any rules by entering the Singaporean border because there were buoys placed in the waters as a mark for the border of both countries," he said.

Raihan explained the position of the buoys placed in the borders between both countries could confuse fishermen.

"The Malaysian and Singaporean government should make a proper mapping or place a clearer sign for the border marks," he said.