medcom.id, Jakarta: Four Indonesians recently freed by Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines will be handed over to the Indonesian government today, Thursday, May 12.
"The four Indonesian citizens will be handed over to the Indonesian government. The ceremony will be held in Indonesian Navy vessel. The vessel then will sail from the Philippines to Tarakan. After that, the citizens will fly to Jakarta," said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir to reporters at his office, Jakarta, Thursday (5/12/2016).
"We hope they can arrive in Jakarta this evening or tomorrow morning," he continued.
Arrmanatha underlined the hostage release is one of the outcomes of the trilateral meeting between Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia that took place in Yogyakarta last week.
"The meeting has strengthened cooperation between the three countries so we can free the four Indonesian citizens," he added
Regarding report about ransom payment, He stressed that the Indonesian government never pay ransom to hijackers.
"I wanted to reiterate something than has been mentioned many times by President Joko Widodo and Minister Retno that the Indonesian government never pay ransom," he ensured.
However, he refused to explain in detail about the hostage release for safety reason. "We cannot reveal the process in detail. It is due to the cooperation between the Indonesian government, the Philippine government and others that we cannot name," he stated.
He explained that the situation in the southern Philippines is very complex and fluid. "We cannot reveal it for safety reason," he concluded.
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