TROUBLE IN SABAH | Malaysia surrounds '100 armed Filipinos' in Sabah, but PH exec disputes story

From InterAcksyon (Feb 14): TROUBLE IN SABAH | Malaysia surrounds '100 armed Filipinos' in Sabah, but PH exec disputes story

Malaysian security forces have surrounded about 100 armed men believed to be from a breakaway rebel faction in the southern Philippines, Malaysian police and a government official said on Thursday, but a Philippine official said they were unarmed Filipinos who had been promised land.

The standoff in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state threatened to stir tension between the Southeast Asian neighbours whose ties have been periodically frayed by security and migration problems caused by a porous sea border.

Malaysian police said in a statement that the situation was "under control", but did not say whether the men had agreed with a request to surrender.

"We are dealing with 100 armed foreigners from the southern Philippines. The army and the police have cordoned off the place where these foreigners are waiting," a high-ranking Malaysian government source with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters.

He said the gunmen were suspected to be from a faction unhappy with the Philippines' recent peace deal with the main Muslim rebel group in southern Mindanao island.

A senior Philippine military official dismissed the Malaysian account of the group, saying they were unarmed Filipinos who had been promised land in Sabah.

He said a meeting over the land claim had attracted a large crowd and drawn the attention of Malaysian authorities.

"We know that these people arrived there five days ago and most of them are from nearby islands," the official, who asked not to be identified, said. "Some of them were already residents in Sabah for a long time and they normally cross the border without any problem."

The number of illegal Muslim immigrants from the impoverished southern Philippines has surged in recent decades, stirring social tensions with indigenous Christian inhabitants in Sabah.

The Philippine government signed a landmark peace deal with Muslim rebels late last year to end a 40-year conflict in the south, but some factions have voiced opposition.

"Since Malaysia brokered the deal, followers from the Misuari Breakaway Group have decided to stir up some trouble and create fireworks in Sabah," the senior Malaysian official said, referring to a faction within the MNLF rebel group.

In 2000, a group of militants from the southern Philippines kidnapped 21 tourists from the Sabah diving resort of Sipadan. In 1985, 11 people were killed when gunmen believed to be from the southern Philippines entered Lahad Datu in Sabah, shooting at random before robbing the local branch of Standard Chartered Bank.

State news agency Bernama cited unidentified police sources as saying the group was made up of more than 100 men in military fatigues, but police have not publicly confirmed that report.

National police chief Ismail Omar said in a statement late on Wednesday that the gunmen intruded on Malaysian soil in the state of Sabah on Borneo island, a region with a history of incidents involving armed Filipino groups.

"This intrusion is a result of the problems in the southern Philippines," Ismail said in an apparent reference to Muslim insurgents and other lawlessness in the southern Philippines, which lies just across the Sulu Sea from Sabah.

Malaysia is predominantly Muslim.

Ismail said security forces surrounded and ordered the gunmen to surrender in the Malaysian coastal town of Lahad Datu. His statement made no mention of how many people were involved.

"They've surrendered, but as for the number, I really have no info for now," said a police spokesman contacted by AFP on Thursday.

Sabah's eastern tip is less than an hour by speedboat from the nearest Philippine islands.

In October, Manila reached a framework agreement with the southern Philippines' main Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), aimed at ending a decades-long insurgency that has left more than 150,000 people dead.

In 2000, al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group seized 21 mostly Western holidaymakers hostage as hostages at the Malaysian scuba diving resort of Sipadan, taking them off to Philippine islands. They were later ransomed.

Two Malaysians were kidnapped from a plantation in the area in November and were believed to have been taken to southern Philippines.

Security on Sabah's coast has been problematic for Malaysia, with tens of thousands of Filipinos believed to have immigrated illegally to the state over the past few decades.
In Manila, the Philippines' foreign affairs department said it is currently trying to get in touch with its ambassador to Malaysia Eduardo Malaya regarding the incident.

“We are trying to find out from the embassy what all about. We have no information about that yet,” del Rosario said on Thursday.

In an press briefing, DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said that the agency is still completing the facts of the incident, assuring that concerned officials are now communicating on the matter.

“We are still trying to ascertain and complete the facts of this incident. Our security and defense officials are in touch with their Malaysian counterparts in this regard,” Hernandez told the reporters on Thursday.

He however refused to reveal what information they have been acquired so far since details are still “preliminary”.

“We are still trying to complete on information on that incident so while we are doing that, we cannot give you some information because it is still incomplete," he said.

"Until we’re able really comee up with the complete info, we don’t want to share with you something that has not been verified, as well as something that has not been completed."

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/55050/trouble-in-sabah---malaysia-surrounds-100-armed-filipinos-in-sabah-but-ph-exec-disputes-story