Seeking revival of Border Scouts

From the Daily Express (Oct 3, 2023): Seeking revival of Border Scouts (By: Hayati Dzulkifli, James Sarda)

This fifth of a series is in conjunction with Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor’s third year as Sabah Chief Minister. 

KOTA KINABALU: The Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-led State Government is looking into reviving the Sabah Border Scouts as part of additional security measures that will benefit the people and investors.

Although the State’s security situation has greatly improved especially at sea, following the setting up of Esscom during the tenure of predecessor Tan Sri Musa Aman, many other activities still continue overland such as cross-border smuggling of subsidised essential goods, among others.

They would also provide a security boost.

Datuk Seri Hajiji Haji Noor said under such proposal the Border Scouts would have to be treated as State officers and paid by the State Government.

“We are thinking about having Border Scouts in Sabah by placing them at the borders to ward off security threats, among others. I brought this matter to the Sarawak Premier (Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg) in 2021 whereby he commended it as very good (proposal).

“But of course, we must engage the Federal Government because this is a matter of security,” he said in a special interview with Daily Express in conjunction with his third year as Chief Minister.

Hajiji recalled that Sabah used to have Border Scouts in the past and they were placed under the State’s payroll.

He believed such proposal is in Sabah’s best interests. If approved, they would be treated as State officers but must have background and working experience in the security field and would be trained by the Federal Government.

He said several of these trained scouts would be placed to guard various State’s borders, parts of which are often used as rat trails by smugglers and human traffickers.

“These scouts are our people, i.e. Sabahans and they will look after our borders,” Hajiji said, adding that a discussion on the salaries and remuneration would be looked into.

For the record, the Sabah Border Scouts were a paramilitary unit formed in 1963 and trained by the British.

The unit consisted of about 1,500 men under the command of Richard Noone and officers from the Semoi Praaq, the Orang Asli tracker unit of the Royal Malaysia Police.

They played an important role in warding off incursions by the Indonesian army in the south of Sabah during the Konfrontasi period of 1963 to 1966 conflict when Indonesian President Sukarno opposed the formation of Malaysia.

The Border Scouts then consisted of largely Muruts and proved a huge success due to their knowledge of the land and forests. They gathered intelligence for enforcement units to enable strikes against enemy incursions and the prevention cross-border crime and smuggling.

However, the Border Scout unit was disbanded in 1986 on grounds that there was no longer any external threat to Sabah.

However, there have been consistent calls for the unit to be revived following the influx of immigrants that are now believed to number a third of the State’s population, with many of them undocumented.

Some are believed to be sympathysers of the southern Philippines Abu Sayyaf terrorists who carried out nearly 20 cross border kidnappings since 2000.

Police revealed that some Abu Sayyaf elements managed to infiltrate in parts of Sabah after several high on the Philippines wanted list were killed in a shootout in a mangrove hideout in Beaufort three years ago.

Persistent claims that militants with links to the so-called Royal Sulu Army that intruded Lahad Datu in 2012, which led to a bloody confrontation with up to a dozen Malaysian security personnel being killed, also prompted calls for the Border Scouts to be revived as an additional measure.

https://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news/220984/seeking-revival-of-border-scouts/