On Monday (24 Oct), several Malaysian men accused Singapore’s Police Coast Guard (PCG) of driving their fishing vessel away from Malaysian waters.
The incident went viral on Malaysian media and the fishermen even filed a police report.
However, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) has refuted the allegations.
They explained that while PCG officers had indeed advised the fishermen to leave the area, it was because they were in a live firing area off Lim Chu Kang.
This means the incident occurred entirely in Singapore’s territorial waters.
Posting a statement on Facebook on Tuesday (25 Oct), SPF shared that they are aware of the allegations about PCG officers chasing away Malaysian fishermen from Malaysian waters.
Calling the allegations “wholly untrue”, the police then shared what really went down during the incident.
PCG officers had been patrolling Singapore territorial waters on Sunday (23 Oct) when they spotted a group of Malaysian fishing vessels entering and exiting the live firing area off Lim Chu Kang at around 4pm.
Source: Singapore Police Force on Facebook
As unauthorised vessels are prohibited from entering the live firing area, officers advised the fishermen to leave.
Then, at around 5.28pm, a few of the fishing vessels approached the PCG officers and the crew expressed their unhappiness at having to leave.
Part of the exchange was recorded and posted on social media.
Police said the fishing vessels returned to Malaysian territorial waters at around 5.37pm.
They also clarified that the exchange took place entirely in Singapore’s territorial waters, not Malaysia’s.
The fishermen had told Malaysian media that they were catching shrimp in the Pasir Laba area near the Second Link Bridge when PCG officers allegedly verbally abused them.
Source: YouTube
One fisherman said that a few new fishermen were unaware of the sea boundaries, and one of them cast his net as he normally would.
He then claimed that PCG officers scolded him and threatened to ram into his net if he did not withdraw it.
Another fisherman appealed to authorities to be more understanding, saying that sometimes, the nets they cast might end up floating over to Singapore waters because of unpredictable currents.
This can happen even though they cast their nets in Malaysian waters, he said.
On Monday (24 Oct), Bernama reported that a representative of the fishermen had filed a police report following their encounter with the PCG.
Iskandar Puteri District Police Chief, Assistant Commissioner Rahmat Ariffin said his department received the report at 2.30pm that day and investigations were ongoing.
He advised the public to not make any speculations that could disrupt public order.
Kota Iskandar assemblyman Pandak Ahmad reportedly said he regretted the actions of the Singaporean authorities.
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Featured image adapted from Saluddin Ismail on Facebook.
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