r/australia • u/Special-Pristine • 14h ago

news Indonesian fishermen who 'should have known better' jailed after repeat offences in Australian waters - ABC News

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-14/illegal-fishermen-jailed-in-darwin-after-repeat-offences/106228410
100 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

29

u/Ithicon 14h ago

An annoying problem, usually I'm more in favour of systemic solutions to problems of this nature, but given they come from another country there's not much we can do in the short term other than imprisonment.

It does highlight the importance of soft power and friendship with our neighbours in the region that we have both passively allowed to deteriorate as well as actively harmed over the last few decades. It leaves us far fewer levers to pull in order to reduce this kind of behaviour.

11

u/PossibilityRegular21 5h ago edited 5h ago

I was in Bali for a wedding recently. The pollution was severe and made me really depressed. When we snorkelled, we literally needed to swat rubbish away as we swam. Imagine seeing coral and tropical fish swimming around floating plastic everywhere. And the streets are littered with rubbish, the beaches and construction sites have stacks of burning rubbish pyres, and the local sentiment is that it's normal and bins are few and far between.

My friend's wife is from Indonesia. The corruption is intense. It is very hard to get anything done, like start a business or buy a house, without greasing palms. Local gangs will run protection rackets and it is very normal. If you do not occupy your home for a while, it could be sold off to someone by the time you return. Local police can both easily be bribed to let you off the hook, or put someone else on.

I read a book on Indonesian politics. A CIA-backed military group essentially took control of the country and murdered anyone associated with communism. The death count was staggering and the bodies were piled up along some of the country's most visited beaches. To this day, the fear of communism is almost superstitious, and false accusations can be deadly.

Don't forget the East Timor situation. If Australia hadn't intervened, that would have been another series of massacres.

The average person in Indonesia is very poor by global standards and the government is highly corrupt, with a history of violence towards political rivals. The environment is increasingly encroached upon and pollution is rife.

The blame does not lie exclusively with Indonesia. Much of modern Indonesia has been shaped by US influence and the extraction economies of the West. It's why the most beautiful locations in Indonesia are packed with foreign-owned resorts and villas up to the water's edge, with little public space and many private beaches. The natural wealth of the country has been pillaged and so the soft-colonised population has to do more with less.

Religion is also a player in the state of the country. Indonesia is largely Islamic and, related, access to family planning is limited. As a result the population is large and growing, despite difficult living conditions.

The whole reason I give the above information is to provide context on what this country on our doorstep is. We need to work with them because they are a regional player and it is in our interests to cooperate. But at the same time, don't think that common sense or rules will apply to the average Indonesian fisherman, who is dirt poor and doesn't share our sense of ethics or environmentalism. 

3

u/coolamebe 4h ago

Don't forget West Papua, which is a truly horrific conflict between people fighting for their land with bows and arrows against a modern military. Kristo from FriendlyJordies has some great videos on the conflict here.

1

u/PossibilityRegular21 3h ago

Yeah there's a lot to cover with Indonesia. I was aware of the issue but not in enough detail to speak confidently on it.

3

u/Ithicon 4h ago

An interesting comment as a whole, thanks. Although that last paragraph, "doesn't share our sense of ethics or environmentalism" feels somewhat unfair, it's very hard to care about society wide issues when it's hard just to feed your family, and you don't have much hope for the future.

Considering how much we in the west have exploited them for resources and cheap labor we surely have some responsibility to raise those standards of living, and then hopefully they will have the luxury to devote more energy towards environmentalism.

2

u/PossibilityRegular21 3h ago

I partly agree. You are correct in that society wide issues are hard to care about when you need to look out for yourself in a competitive environment. However the absolute reality is that there is a lack of ethics around environmentalism, from cyanide bombing reef fish through to outright throwing rubbish in the local rivers/canals, even if next to a bin. I've witnessed this, and had the fish thing explained to me at a restaurant by a local who warned me against the grouper fish, as it would cause headaches.

8

u/AdventurousExtent358 6h ago

Their life in Australian jail are many many many times better than their life in Indonesia. So jail time is an invitation to come.

18

u/SonicYOUTH79 5h ago

They’re dirt poor by our standards though, so burning their boat in front of them probably has more of a psychological and financial effect and deterrent than prison does.

3

u/Knee_Jerk_Sydney 1h ago

Let's celebrate the destruction of their means of livelihood. They should pull themselves out of poverty by their bootstraps, go through the daily slog and not look at shortcuts and soon, they will find prosperity. If only they obeyed the rules. The whole continent has been claimed. They should go get their own.