Sabah Culture, Tourism and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun however thinks it’s necessary to look at the big picture and get the Manila Government to drop its Sabah claim.
KOTA KINABALU: Authorities in Sabah are at their wit’s end over the recurrent kidnappings-for-ransom incidents along the state’s eastern seaboard. The views are divided on the phenomenon and range from the gangs having inside information from “moles” planted among the illegal immigrants to the need to find closure on the defunct Sulu sultanate’s Sabah claim to ensure security for the state.
Former Special Branch Deputy Director Leong Chee Woh thinks that the families, relatives and friends of the kidnapping gangs had infiltrated the state and were providing information on potential kidnap victims to them. “Only up to the minute intelligence can pin down the infiltrators,” said Leong. “They cannot simply come in without local support.”
The police, in echoing such views, believe that Sabah faces the problem of “enemies within”. The Eastern Sabah Security Command (EssCom), which exercises oversight on ten districts covered by the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (EssZone), has been emphasizing on the people coming forward and providing information on possible kidnapping attempts and the movement of the kidnappings-for-ransom gangs. So far, they have been no takers including among locals who fear being victimized by gang members for co-operating with the authorities.
Sabah Culture, Tourism and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun however thinks it’s necessary to look at the big picture and get the Manila Government to drop its Sabah claim. “The first basic principle for resolving Sabah’s security problem is to get the Philippines to drop its Sabah claim,” said Masidi.
Like the others, he was commenting on the rhetoric and polemics in the local media and the social media on ways to end the kidnapping incidents in Sabah especially in the wake of the beheading of Bernard Then, 39, an engineer from Sarawak working in Cambodia. Bernard was on holiday with his family in Sandakan when he was taken at the Ocean King Seafood Restaurant on May 15 along with the owner and manager Thein Nyuk Fun, 50. Thein was freed on November 8 after a 30 million peso (RM2.78 million) ransom was paid.
EssCom Commander Abdul Rashid Harun, in agreeing with Masidi, pointed out that Philippine President Benigno Acquino III had reiterated his government’s desire to continue claiming Sabah. “This is a problem. It’s causing problems for the security forces and inviting trouble in EssZone where the illegal immigrants outnumber the locals in many towns,” he said.
Manila claims that the Sulu Sultanate only “leased” eastern Sabah, the EssZone area, to the British North Borneo Chartered Company and did not transfer sovereignty. The Philippines Government claims that the Sulu sultanate transferred “sovereignty” over eastern Sabah to it and wants the territory “back”.
Leong does not want to get into the Sabah claim and prefers to reiterate on the need to focus on intelligence gathering. “We have to eradicate them. When we were dealing with the terrorists, they were out there in the jungle and we flushed them out,” said Leong. “In Sabah, it’s a different situation. The enemy is not out in the jungle but here among the people.”
“So, intelligence gathering should be the first step to flush out these people.”
Another suggestion out there, seconded by local politicians, was to eradicate the many water villages dotted all around the long Sabah coastline.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/11/24/sabah-at-a-loss-over-recurrent-kidnappings-for-ransom/
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