Police refute claims that Coast Guard chased away fishermen in Malaysian waters, say incident was in S’pore territory

SINGAPORE — An incident between officers from the Police Coast Guard and several Malaysian fishing vessels over the weekend took place entirely in Singapore waters, and not Malaysian waters as alleged.  

In a news release on Tuesday (Oct 25), the Singapore Police Force said that they are aware of allegations circulating online about the fishermen being chased away by the Police Coast Guard for fishing in Malaysian waters on Sunday.

“The allegations are wholly untrue,” the police said.

Some social media users have alleged that Singapore’s maritime boats have entered Malaysia’s territorial waters to chase away the fishermen from Malaysia.

The Singapore Police Force said on Tuesday that their Police Coast Guard officers were patrolling at about 4pm on Oct 23 when they spotted a group of Malaysian fishing vessels entering and exiting the live firing area of Singapore’s territorial waters off Lim Chu Kang.

“Unauthorised vessels are strictly prohibited from entering the live firing area, for their own safety,” the police added.

Police Coast Guard officers then approached the fishing vessels and used the public address system on their boat to advise the fishing vessels to leave the live firing area in Singapore’s territorial waters.

Later that day at about 5.28pm, a few Malaysian fishing vessels approached the Police Coast Guard officers. Their crew members expressed their unhappiness at being asked to leave the area.

“Our officers explained that unauthorised vessels were prohibited from entering the area and asked them to leave for their own safety,” the police said.

After a verbal exchange with the Police Coast Guard officers, the fishing vessels returned to Malaysian waters at about 5.37pm.

Earlier on Tuesday, Malaysian news agency Bernama reported that several Malaysian fishermen had made a police report following the verbal exchange with Singapore’s Police Coast Guard over the incident.

In the Bernama's article, Iskandar Puteri police chief Rahmat Ariffin said that his department had received the report and further investigations are underway.

Mr Rahmat had advised the public not to make any speculations that could disturb public order.