BERNAMA
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 summed up his feelings with these words when he arrived at the Dataran Permata Seberang Takir last night, after being released from detention by Indonesian authorities for allegedly encroaching into its waters while fishing with five other fishermen on April 8.
Mohd Fadly, 40, was released together with his friend, Abdul Halim Nik, 43, both from Seberang Takir, near here, and were greeted by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman, family members and friends.
A fisherman for the past 23 years, Mohd Fadly described his time in detention in a foreign country as difficult to express, as he was constantly worried about his wife and young children back home.
"Thinking about it, I am scared to go out to the sea now. But, that's our livelihood. If possible, I wouldn't want to venture out to the sea again, but how to earn a living? At the moment, all I want to do is just to take a break, before returning to work," he said.
Abdul Halim, who was once detained 15 years ago, pledged to use existing technology to prevent such an incident from recurring, and said he hopes that three others still detained – including his elder brother Abdul Rashid, 52 and Mohammad Mohd Zaidi, 23, both from Kampung Seberang Takir; and Firdaus Mohamad, 27, from Kemaman – will be released soon.
On April 8, the five Malaysian fishermen, together with a Thai national, were detained by the Indonesian navy when their fishing boat strayed about five nautical miles into Indonesian waters at around 11.30am. -- BERNAMA