Thankful to be home for Ramadan
> Two fishermen released after being detained one month in Indonesia for encroachment
KUALA NERUS: “Thank God we are safely home now and given a chance to fast (during Ramadan) with family. I never thought we would be released after being detained for more than a month in Indonesia.”
Mohd Fadly Jaafar, 40, summed up his feelings after he arrived at the Dataran Permata Seberang Takir on Saturday night. Mohd Fadly and his friend Abdul Halim Nik, 43, both from Seberang Takir, were released after being detained by the Indonesian authority for allegedly encroaching into the country’s waters together with four other fishermen on April 8.
On arrival, they were greeted by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman, family members and friends.
Mohd Fadly, who has been a fisherman for the past 23 years, could not express his feelings of being detained in a foreign country as he was constantly worried about his wife and young children back home.
“Thinking about it, I am scared to go out to sea now, but that’s our livelihood,” he said.
“At the moment all I want to do is just take a break, before returning to work,” he said.
“While we were in detention we were treated well by the Indonesian authority.
“But I was worried about my wife and four small children, especially as Ramadan was approaching.”
Meanwhile, Abdul Halim, who was once detained 15 years ago, said he would use existing technology to prevent such an incident from recurring.
He hoped that the three other fishermen who were still detained – his elder brother Abdul Rashid, 52, and Mohammad Mohd Zaidi, 23, both from Kampung Seberang Takir, and Firdaus Mohamad, 27, from Kemaman –would be released soon.
On April 8, the five fishermen, together with a Thai national, were detained by the Indonesian navy when their fishing boat strayed about five nautical miles into Indonesian waters around 11.30am. – Bernama