The Indonesian Economic Trade Office (KDEI) in Taiwan continues to give legal assistance to two of its nationals who had been detained in the country, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Michael Tenne said here on Friday.

"We don`t have diplomatic relations with Taiwan but we have an economic trade office in Taipei and therefore we have contacted the authority there for legal assistance to the detained Indonesians," Tenne said.

He said a KDEI official has contacted the prosecutor office to keep up with the legal development of two Indonesian crew members and give them legal assistance.

CNA news agency reported from Taipei on Wednesday, Jan 4, 2012 that two Indonesian deckhands on a Taiwanese fishing boat have been taken into custody after allegedly killing the boat`s skipper and throwing his body into the sea December 2011.

The agency quoted the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office as saying that the two Indonesian suspects, identified as Kartubi and Anwar Saepudin, were charged with killing Wang Yao-chang on Dec. 5, 2011 while the Chin Hai Hsiang No. 3 was fishing off Myanmar.

The prosecutors asked for the two to be detained out of concerns 

that they might attempt to escape and conspire with each other. 

Kartubi admitted beating Wang with a stick after being scolded by him. He and Saepudin then threw him overboard. 

The boat was intercepted by an Indian naval ship on Dec. 9 and escorted to Port Blair in the Andaman Islands between India and Myanmar.

The two were then brought to Taiwan for interrogation. Wang`s body has not been found. 

Michael Tenne said that since Thursday KDEI had made every effort to have access to Kartubi and Anwar Saepudin and to give them legal assistance.

Source: ANTARA