Sabah, Philippines dismiss 'fantastic' reports of Sulu invasion plan

From the Mindanao Examiner (Dec 10, 2021): Sabah, Philippines dismiss 'fantastic' reports of Sulu invasion plan

Sabah police have shut down a news report of an alleged secret plot hatched by elected officials in the Filipino province of Sulu to invade Sabah off the southern Philippines.

The news article published on December 9 by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) quoted an unnamed regional security source, who elaborated the plot hatched on December 1 following a clandestine meeting by a locally-elected official of Sulu who gathered all 19 mayors to discuss plans to set up a “Royal Sulu Army” with a target of recruiting up to 600 men to invade Sabah.

The report said of the 19 mayors who attended the secret meeting, 11 agreed to the plan while the rest sat on the fence, neither agreeing to nor rejecting it. “Each mayor is expected to provide 50 men who are skilled and brave in battle. The cost of ammunition and other logistics is to be borne by the high-ranking official who also promised to contribute 500,000 pesos to build 100 speed boats that will be used to attack Sabah,” the source said.

The source said that according to the plan, the local official was believed to have supplied 500 firearms to local representatives in Sulu who would then distribute them, adding, some 150 to 200 spies from Sulu were expected to be directed to Lahad Datu and Semporna – two key coastal towns where an invasion force might land.

“All the Sulu soldiers entering the waters of Lahad Datu and Semporna will be bringing in firearms [according to the plot],” said the source. “All the firearms will be buried in an area before being used to attack the targeted area.”

However, the source added that “no one” had infiltrated Sabah – but warned the Sulu plotters had “sleeper cells” there. The security source said intelligence gathering and security had been stepped up in Sabah since the discovery of the Sulu meeting.

“The potential of the plan to attack Sabah coming to fruition depends on how much political support and funds it can get from various parties. Many stakeholders in the Philippines and abroad are willing to exploit this issue for their respective political and strategic interests,” the SMCP quoted its source as saying.

The source said February next year was seen as the best time to invade. That time was likely to have been chosen to “commemorate” an invasion of Sabah eight years ago by fighters from Sulu, the SCMP source added.

In February 2013, Sabah was rocked by the – ultimately unsuccessful – invasion of over 200 armed followers of the Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III. The men were led by the sultan’s brother, Agbimuddin Kiram, who had come to press an ancestral claim over Sabah. Malaysia responded by sending troops and launching airstrikes before the stand-off ended. The conflict, which lasted more than a month, resulted in the deaths of 68 men from the Sulu sultanate, nine Malaysian armed services personnel and six civilians.

“The failure of the heirs of the Sulu Sultanate to obtain the consent of the Malaysian government to settle the proprietary rights over Sabah prompted the implementation of this plan,” the SCMP quoted its source as saying.

Malaysia Inspector General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said there is no confirmation on the intended plan so far. He said it is believed “information has been manipulated by parties who are jealous of the level of security and close ties between Sabah and the southern Philippines.”

“The Royal Malaysian Police takes this matter seriously and will take immediate action to increase the preparedness [of the police] to the highest level in Sabah to face any possibility of a threat of invasion and to avoid any repeated incident of infiltration in the state,” he added.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Idris Abdullah also dismissed the news report as untrue. “The report is not true, nevertheless, we are always enhancing maritime security,” Idris told Daily Express on December 9 after the SCMP came out with the article which was branded as “fantastic” by a Philippine military commander based in Sulu, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.

Philippine Army First Lt. Jerrica Angela Manongdo, a spokesperson for the Joint Task Force Sulu, also denied the news report, although he admitted there was a meeting, but it has nothing to do with Sabah, now a federal state of Malaysia.

“There was a meeting (by Sulu leaders), but (it) has nothing to do with Sabah or Malaysia,” Manongdo told Daily Express.

In a separate statement, Manongdo said meeting - convened by Gov. Sakur Tan and the 19 municipal mayors - was aimed at developing a project to strengthen the maritime borders of Sulu by organizing the “Bantay Dagat” in the province.

The Bantay Dagat, in collaboration with the military, will manned by fishermen and volunteers and patrol the sea around the province to help improve border control against terrorist and any other lawless elements, and will also be utilized for disaster response during calamities in the maritime and coastal areas.

“This initiative stemmed out of the inclination to continue improving the island province’s stability in terms of security and economic aspect,” Manongdo said.

The spokesperson said some 299 locals were also recruited as soldiers and now members of the 11th Infantry Division in Sulu and that 300 civilian volunteers are currently undergoing military training in the province.

“All in all we have 820 men and women ready to serve the nation wearing the military uniform. We will continue to recruit and train to fill-up the manning of our newly created infantry division. We are at the forefront of ensuring security and we will tirelessly collaborate with the local governments when it comes to humanitarian development and economic initiatives,” Maongdo said.

The SCMP, founded in 1903 and was once one of the most profitable newspapers in the world, boosted by a large classified job-advertisement section. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch acquired control of the paper in 1986 before selling his stake to Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok in 1993. The paper changed hands again in 2015 when Alibaba agreed to buy it in a HK$2.06 billion deal.

Alibaba, whose founder Jack Ma came under fire for criticizing China’s financial watchdogs last year, has been under pressure from the Chinese government to divest some of its media assets, including the SCMP, Bloomberg News reported in March, according to Reuters. (Mindanao Examiner)

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