Taiwan captain vows to sue Indonesian fishers after assault

Pingtung, March 17 (CNA) The captain of a Taiwanese fishing boat has vowed to take legal action after he was attacked by a group believed to be comprised of his former hires.

Lee Chih-ming (李致銘), captain of the Taiwanese-flagged Tenn Ming Yang No. 368, was beaten by crew members from another vessel while his ship was moored in a port in Mauritius, videos shared with CNA by a witness showed.

Lee held a news conference on March 14 after he had returned to Taiwan to give his account of the incident.

The incident took place on the evening of March 7 when several Indonesian "crew members of another ship" came to his ship to drink, Lee told the news conference, without elaborating.

The Indonesians were drinking and talking loudly, so he told them to keep their voices down, angering them, Lee said.

The Indonesians went to the captain's cockpit where they berated and hit him, Lee said.

There were five to eight assailants, according to Lee.

In one of the videos, Lee knelt and apologized to his assailants, but the apology was made under duress out of fear of being subjected to more violence, Lee said at the news conference.

Lee said that although officials at "the local Indonesian consulate" had tracked down three of his assailants, who later apologized to him, he would be bringing a lawsuit against all of his assailants to hold them accountable for their actions.

He added that all his injuries sustained during the beating were documented by a hospital immediately after returning to Taiwan.

In a statement on March 14, the Taiwan Tuna Longline Association condemned the perpetrators, saying that they should have vented their frustration by filing complaints through appropriate channels rather than by resorting to violence, which was "unacceptable."

After the news conference, CNA got in touch with a source from the crew of Tenn Ming Yang No. 368, who gave a different account.

The "crew members from another ship" were actually Lee's former crew members who had asked to be transferred to other vessels because they could no longer stand Lee's management style, said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation in a call from Mauritius.

According to the source, the former crew members went to Tenn Ming Yang No. 368 to "see their friends" and when they saw that Lee was on board, they decided to confront him and ask why he had mistreated them.

Some of the Indonesians who confronted Lee had recently served out their contracts and were "going back [to Indonesia] soon," explained the source.

Asked to comment on Lee's claim that the incident was triggered by Lee asking them to be quiet, the source said "nothing like that" had happened.

"No one was drinking at the time, they were all sober," the source said.

Lee has hit several of his crew members on several occasions, is arrogant, and often blames them for "small mistakes," the source said.

However, when confronted by his former crew members on the night of March 7, Lee denied ever mistreating them, the source said, adding that this angered them and led to the beating.

When told that Lee was planning to sue his assailants, the source said that would be "unfair" considering how Lee had treated them.

In a statement on March 14, the Fisheries Agency said it would visit Mauritius to investigate the incident and interview crew members of Tenn Ming Yang No. 368.

The agency said that any criminal offenses will be handled by Taiwan's law enforcement agencies and that it will offer the plaintiff judicial assistance through diplomatic channels.