Lahad Datu News Compilation Thread

[BlackRiders]

11 March 2013| last updated at 08:52AM

LAHAD DATU:Agbimuddin slips away during raid

Police officers, including the elite Special Action Force, leaving Kampung Pinggir Bakau after a 6.30am raid in search of Agbimuddin and his men. Pic by Mohd Radzi Bujang

HAVEN FOR IMMIGRANTS: 33 held after house-to-house search in terrorist hideout

THE leader of the terrorist group in Sabah, Agbimuddin Kiram, was believed to have given security forces the slip when they raided a settlement in Kampung Pinggir Bakau, here, yesterday.

Agbimuddin, the brother of Jamalul Kiram III, the self-proclaimed sultan of Sulu, was believed to have been hiding in the settlement with several other terrorists who escaped the onslaught in Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu, which began on Tuesday.

The security forces, however, nabbed 33 suspects, including four believed to be involved in the shootout in Simunul on March 2 which claimed the lives of six policemen and six terrorists.

Also nabbed yesterday were four women who were the "eyes and ears" of the terrorist group and had also provided them food.

Police said the 6.30am raid involving some 100 police officers, including the elite Special Action Force (UTK), was instigated by a tip-off that Agbimuddin and his lieutenants were hiding in the settlement. He is believed to have slipped out in the middle of the commotion.

A source told the New Straits Times that Kampung Pinggir Bakau was known as a haven for illegal immigrants from southern Philippines and served as a perfect hideout for Agbimuddin and his men.

District police chief Deputy Superintendent Mohd Firdaus Francis Abdullah said the 33 had been nabbed during a house-to-house search which lasted three hours. They were all illegal immigrants.

Firdaus, however, said no firearms were found during the operation.

A check by New Straits Times at the settlement near a mangrove swamp saw heavily armed UTK officers clad in bulletproof vests and body armour guarding the main road leading into the area.

The detainees were transported in a police truck to the district police headquarters.

In another development, police found an axe, believed to have been the weapon used to mutilate one of the murdered policemen, during a search operation in Jalan 5, Kampung Simunul, on Saturday.

A team of policemen, including commandos and forensics unit officers, had conducted a house- to-house search at Kampung Simunul and neighbouring Kampung Srijaya 1. Several officers were seen holding bags containing seized items.

 

[BlackRiders]

11 March 2013| last updated at 08:52AM

LAHAD DATU: Cop killers caught

Residents of Zone Tanjung Labian leaving their homes after hearing gunshots in the area during ‘Ops Daulat’ yesterday.

RAID ON HIDEOUT: Terror group leader hiding in Kampung Pinggir Bakau

WHILE the offensive against the terrorists raged in Felda Sahabat, significant success was achieved by the Malaysian security forces some 240km away in Semporna when they nabbed four men believed to be involved in the killing of six policemen in Simunul on March 2.

That success would have been more significant if the leader of the terrorist group, Agbimuddin Kiram, was also nabbed in the operation but it was learnt that he slipped through the dragnet when police moved into their hideout in Kampung Pinggir Bakau yesterday morning.

In fact, the raiding party went in after intelligence revealed that Agbimuddin, the brother of self-proclaimed sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III, was hiding out there. Apart from the four men, security personnel also picked up 29 others, said to be sympathisers of the terrorist group.

Earlier yesterday, Jamalul earned the ire of Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi when reports out of Manila quoted him as saying that the armed intrusion was a jihad (holy war) against Malaysia. Zahid was scathing in his response.

"What is the meaning of jihad if the terrorists who were shot dead by our security forces were dumped by their comrades in shallow graves, covered only with planks and oil palm fronds?"

Zahid also labelled them "inhumane" for mutilating the bodies of security personnel.

"There is no compromise, such as sending them back to their country. We will ensure that no terrorist escapes our dragnet. We want them dead or arrested".

As Ops Daulat entered its sixth day yesterday, two more General Operations Force personnel were wounded following skirmishes in the "red zone" in Felda Sahabat. The two are recuperating at a hospital in Sandakan.

A teenager was also killed in the area in one of the skirmishes and the authorities are now trying to ascertain his identity. Another 38 people linked to the terrorist group were also nabbed to facilitate investigations. Several of them were also said to be villagers from the area.

The majority of the villagers, however, are making their way into three evacuation centres in the area. Checks revealed that more than 2,700 villagers are now seeking refuge at these centres, which are being protected by the authorities.

In Sandakan, more than 1,000 Filipinos, believed to be illegal immigrants, fled for their home country in barter boats, a trip which would take them almost 24 hours.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: ICJ recognises Sabah as part of Malaysia, says Bar

PETALING JAYA: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has recognised Malaysia’s rights and sovereignty over Sabah and its surrounding islands in its decision on a territorial dispute involving Ligitan and Sipadan in 2002, said the Malaysian Bar.

Its vice-president Christopher Leong said that although the Philippines had not been a party in the dispute between Malaysia and Indonesia, it was clear in the ICJ’s judgement on Dec 17, 2002, that the Sulu Sultanate did not have a legitimate claim to Sabah.

History, he said, had shown that the Sulu Sultanate had, during several incidents between April 19, 1851, and June 26, 1946 “relinquished and ceded all of its rights” over Sabah.

“In any event, as a matter of post-colonial self-determination, the people of Sabah voted overwhelmingly to join Malaysia in a referendum held in 1962, which was organised by the Cobbold Commision,” he pointed out in a statement here yesterday.

As an independent nation, said Leong, Malaysia had a sovereign right to ensure that the territorial integrity of its international borders was recognised and respected.

Extending the Bar’s condolences to the families of the slain police personnel, Leong said they had “paid the highest price in the defence of the nation and territory”.

He also urged the Government to honour its commitment to international human rights standards in its treatment of those detained in Sabah as well as protect the well-being of civilians caught in the conflict zone.

“While the Government must protect its citizens and detain the perpetrators of violence, it must also grant those detained the due process of the law,” he said.

“It is our conduct and observance of the law and human rights in the face of adversity that will differentiate us from those who would seek to threaten us and commit acts of aggression against us,” he said.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: 100 protest against two PKR leaders

Fiery protest: Kampung Sri Pantai residents burning the pictures of Anwar and Tian Chua at Dataran Tanjung Emas.

MUAR: About 100 residents of Kampung Sri Pantai along Jalan Junid here staged a protest against two PKR leaders over their comments on the intrusion by Sulu gunmen.

The villagers, headed by food stall operator Omar Daud, asked the Government to take action against Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and PKR vice-president Tian Chua.

“We want the Government to take action against the Opposition leaders who have blamed Umno and belittled the deaths of Malaysian policemen.

“The Opposition leaders, especially Tian Chua, have hurt Malays,” Omar said before leading villagers to the Muar police station to lodge reports.

Another resident, Melan Rahmat, said the intrusion in Lahad Datu was neither an Umno conspiracy to delay the general election nor sow fear among voters.

“We also want to show our support to the Government and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for any action taken against the gunmen,” he added.

The villagers carried placards and pictures of Anwar and Tian Chua which they burned at Dataran Tanjung Emas before going to the police station.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: ‘MNLF men may be part of incursion’

Misuari: ‘I don’t know whether a few more apart from those who are already involved in this incursion have weapons and are going in.’

PETALING JAYA: Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari said it was possible that MNLF members were part of the self-styled Royal Sulu Army who had gone to Sabah.

However, he said they had done so without the permission or knowledge of the movement.

He said that when he had asked some of his “brothers” whether it was true that MNLF were with the group, the reply was that they might be as they also considered themselves soldiers and the security force of the Sultanate of Sulu.

“This means that when MNLF goes to war, they will be with us but when the Sultanate of Sulu embarks on a mission such as the incursion into Sabah, they will also go but without any permission from us,” Misuari said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Misuari said he was still trying to find out if one of MNLF’s former commanders was among the gunmen killed by security forces in Sabah.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar on Friday said one of the 31 gunmen killed was a leader of the invaders.

It is believed the man was a former MNLF commander known as Haji Musa, a former general of the Philippine army who had also served in Vietnam.

Misuari slammed Philippine President Benigno Aquino for claiming that outside parties were possibly involved in the incursion, saying there was no evidence of this.

On whether he had met any Malaysian Opposition leaders, he said he had meet with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim several months ago in Jakarta.

He said he requested for the meeting with Anwar to complain about Malaysia’s treatment of detained southern Philippine illegal immigrants, adding that no other matters were raised.

“He (Anwar) is the only fellow I know closely after my relations with Kuala Lumpur was estranged because of my arrest there,” said Misuari.

The former rebel leader was arrested in Sabah in 2001 and extradited to the Philippines on the request of the country.

Misuari, who still wields a degree of influence in the troubled southern Philippines, denied telling the self-proclaimed Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III that more gunmen who were no longer affiliated with the MNLF would come to the aid of the invaders.

He said what he told Jamalul during a press conference at the latter’s residence several days ago was that he would offer to help seek a meeting with Malaysian authorities to find a resolution to the crisis.

“But I don’t know whether a few more apart from those who are already involved in this incursion have weapons and are going in,” he said.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: Zahid Hamidi challenges Pakatan leaders to go to Sabah battlegrounds

IPOH: Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has challenged Pakatan Rakyat leaders to go to the battlegrounds in Sabah to experience for themselves the situation there.

He criticised the Opposition leaders, some of whom had reportedly described the deaths of policemen in the attacks as mati katak.

“They should also go there without being accompanied by security forces. Don’t just go for visit if they think this is a sandiwara (act).

“If they are jantan (men), go face the intruders themselves without the police or army,” he said after opening the Barisan Nasional and Non-Governmental Organisation Car*nival at Rapat Setia here yesterday.

Dr Zahid Hamidi also said the militants should be tried according to Malaysian laws for brutally and inhumanely killing the policemen.

“Some of those who fell in battle were treated cruelly and had their fingers cut off and beheaded.

“This is a matter of national security. We must stand united and rally our support behind our armed forces,” he said.

“The people should respect the efforts and sacrifices made by our security forces and not make fun of them if they are loyal to this country,” he added.

Dr Zahid Hamidi said the security forces were still sweeping the areas in Kampung Tanduo, Tanjung Batu and Tanjung Labian for the militants.

“We will ensure that no Filipino terrorists escape from our dragnet and we want them dead or arrested,” he said, adding that there would be no compromise even if the self-proclaimed Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III had called for a ceasefire.

Dr Zahid Hamidi said he believed the gunmen would not flee Sabah easily.

“I was at ground zero, I feel that the gunmen will not leave Sabah. They were promised money and land by Jamalul and other leaders,” he added.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: Youths show love for peace and harmony

Standing united: Youths flying the national and state flag at the patriotism parade in Gaya Street.

KOTA KINABALU: Thousands of youth gathered in Gaya Street in town to commemorate police officers killed in Semporna and Lahad Datu.

The youths, clad in multi-coloured T-shirts holding the Sabah and Malaysian flags, paraded for about 1km along the street together with Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman and his Cabinet members yesterday morning.

“This is how our youths show their love for peace and harmony and let the security forces know our prayers are with them,” said Musa.

He added that there were bound to be people who would question the Government’s intentions.

“I hope the people would know who to choose and who to believe when the time comes.

“We must stand united to ensure that no harm would come to the nation and refrain from listening to rumours,” Musa said.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: Ministry keeping an eye on displaced residents’ welfare

BENTONG: Health Ministry officers are monitoring the situation at se*veral community halls where residents have been forced to relocate to following the standoff with Sulu gunmen in Lahad Datu.

Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the food served was a matter of concern.

“Food poisoning and other illnesses could easily break out in a location where hundreds of people have been forced to share toilets and other utilities,” he said.

However, he said there were enough medical teams, including those from the military, on standby to look after the displaced residents’ welfare.

Extra doctors, dentists and nurses as well as medicine had also been sent to hospitals and clinics in the affected areas and neighbouring Tawau, said Liow.

“We are also thankful to the security forces who have safeguarded our hospitals and clinics. Their medical teams have also been cooperating with ours.

“We will advise local authorities to install enough mobile public toilets,” he said after attending a function on the East Coast Eco*- nomic Region (ECER) here yesterday.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: Groups contribute RM30,000 to police fund

Monetary aid: Kuala Lumpur CID chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Ku Chin Wah accepting a mock cheque totaling RM30,000 from Yong (second from left), Chai (second from right) and Chong.

KUALA LUMPUR: The MCA Public Service and Complaints Department and the National Council of Justices of Peace have each donated RM5,000 to policemen killed in the security operations against the foreign militants in Sabah.

The money was given to the Royal Malaysian Police Welfare Fund.

“Those police officers who protected the country and fought in the frontline will always be the nation’s heroes,” said department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong yesterday.

The council was represented by its deputy president Datuk Seri William Lim.

KK Group chairman Datuk Chai Kee Kan and Ticket Charge Sdn Bhd group chief executive Datuk Dr Dick Yong also contributed to the fund, each donating RM10,000.

Those interested in donating can send their cheques to “Tabung Kebajikan PDRM” and mail it to the department c/o: Datuk Seri Michael Chong, Wisma MCA, Public Service and Complaints Department, 7th Floor, No. 163, Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur.

For more information, call Wisma MCA at 03-2203 3888.

In LUMUT, MCA secretary-general Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha has called on PKR vice-president Tian Chua to resign for his remark on the incident.

“There are protests against him and this is because many people feel strongly against his irresponsible remark,” he said after closing the Rimup sports carnival in Pasir Panjang Laut yesterday.

Kong was responding to the protests against Tian Chua by a group of 50 demonstrators in front of the Manjung district police headquarters on Saturday.

Tian Chua had reportedly uttered that the standoff with the foreign militants was an Umno conspiracy.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: Hishammuddin: Ceasefire only if gunmen surrender unconditionally

By STEPHANIE LEE
[email protected]

KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia will stop at nothing to ensure the operations to flush out the Sulu gunmen in Sabah's east coast meet their objectives, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

“We will only consider a ceasefire if the remaining gunmen surrender unconditionally.

“This is what we can promise the people, especially the widows of our fallen heroes,” he said during a visit to the home of Sumiati Suara, 51, the widow of Sjn Baharin Hamit, one of the officers killed in an ambush at Kampung Simunul in Semporna on March 2.

Hishammuddin said he would visit and present aid to other bereaved families affected by the tragic incidents arising out of illegal claims to Sabah by Sulu groups from the Philippines.

“I can see people are very supportive. We are all proud of our security forces,” he said.

He regretted, however, that there were parties using the crisis to gain political mileage.

“In times like these, there are people politicising the incidents.

“Instead of helping out, they come out with slanderous statements,” he said, citing recent allegations by PKR vice-president Tian Chua that the shooting of Malaysian security forces by the Sulu invaders was an Umno conspiracy.

Meanwhile, Sumiati thanked the Government and all Malaysians for their support and assistance.

“My children are starting to accept the fact and I can see they are very proud of their late father, as his image is always seen on TV and given the recognition as a national hero,” she said.

The late Sjn Baharin and Sumiati have two children, Muhd Izzat Syafiq, 15, and Nur Syafiqah, 11.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: Manila to seek answers over mistreatment

MANILA: The Philippine Government says it will contact the Malaysian Foreign Ministry over media reports alleging that Philippine citizens fleeing Sabah were mistreated in the ongoing operation against armed Sulu gunmen.

Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte was quoted by The Philippine Daily Inquirer as saying that any ill-treatment of its citizens trying to return to the Philippines by Malaysian security forces was unacceptable.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs will be contacting their Malaysian counterparts about these reports,” Valte said on the government-run dzRB radio.

Many Filipinos had reportedly left Lahad Datu, Kunak and Semporna following the incursion led by Raja Muda Azzimudie Kiram, a brother of self-proclaimed Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: ‘Over my dead body I’ll allow Filipinos to claim Sabah’

More security personnel preparing to enter the 'war zone' to pursue the armed intruders. - Bernama

KOTA KINABALU: Controversial Suluk leader Datu Mohd Akjan Ali Muhammad has called on members of the community not to give any assistance to the Sulu gunmen currently involved in a standoff with Malaysian security forces.

Akjan, who also claims to be the rightful heir to the Sulu sultanate, said the Suluk community in Sabah should pledge their loyalty to Malaysia and no other country.

Calling on the remaining Sulu gunmen to lay down their arms and surrender unconditionally, he said their persistence would only prolong the trouble.

“I wish to remind all Suluks here that they are Malaysian citizens. Therefore, they should always pledge their allegiance to Malaysia and be among the first to step forward to defend their country.

“The Sulu gunmen must leave unconditionally,” he said. “Their refusal to do so will only bring more trouble to themselves.

“If you (Tausug from the Philippines) want to claim Sabah, then we, the Suluks in Sabah, can also make that claim. But what is there to claim when we are now Malaysians whereas you all are nothing but people from the Republic of Philippines just like Jamalul Kiram II,” said Akjan, who had been detained over “Project IC”.

“Over my dead body will I allow Filipinos to claim Sabah as part of their country,” he said.

Akjan, who is also the chairman of the Malaysian Islamic Welfare and Sermon Organisation (Pekida) in Sabah, said it supported Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's move to do whatever was necessary to flush out the gunmen.

He hoped the other communities in Malaysia would not stereotype Suluks in the country due to the Lahad Datu incident.

“We, the Suluks of Sabah and Malaysia, have been around for so long.

“It is not possible for us to become part of the Philippines,” he added.

Akjan also demanded an apology from PKR vice-president Tian Chua over his statement linking Umno to the foreign intrusion.

In LAHAD DATU, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Ahmad Maslan said Suluks born and raised in Sabah had no affiliation with the intruders.

“Do not link the local Suluk community to the intruders from the Philippines,” he said at a meeting with representatives of the Suluk community on Saturday. “We changed the name of Ops Sulu to Ops Daulat so it would not look like we are against the Suluk community.”

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: Injured policeman now in Ipoh hospital

Welcome relief: Kpl Mohamad Qaiyum being welcomed by his niece Puteri Nor Farah Elyana Fahmi, five, upon arriving at Police Operations Training Base in Ipoh.

IPOH: VAT 69 commando Kpl Mohamad Qaiyum Aiqal Zolkipli, who was injured in a clash with armed militants in Lahad Datu, was brought here on a special flight before being taken to the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital for treatment.

Among those who welcomed the 22-year-old policeman at the Police Operations Training Base here were his family members, Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, deputy CPO Senior Asst Comm Datuk A. Paramasivam and State Secretary Datuk Abdul Puhat Mat Nayan.

Kpl Mohamad Qaiyum, who flew in a police Beechcraft aircraft accompanied by a doctor, reached the base at about 2.50pm yesterday.

SAC Paramasivam said the police corporal, from Batu Pahat, was shot in his right shoulder during the clash with the militants.

Kpl Mohamad Qaiyum’s brother-in-law L/Kpl Fahmi Mohktar, 28, who is also a policeman based at the Bukit Aman police headquarters, said Mohamad Qaiyum had just joined the elite police unit a year ago after joining the police force when he was 18.

At a separate function earlier, Dr Zambry said he was saddened that there were still people who made cynical remarks over the attacks.

“It is as if they are heartless and have no emotion about what is happening to our security forces.

“We might have different political ideals but we should be grateful for the sacrifices made by our policemen on the frontlines,” he said.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: Teen killed and man injured in Kampung Sungai Bilis

Under probe: Detainees arriving at Semporna police headquarters after a police operation to nab intruders.

LAHAD DATU: A teenage boy died and a man was injured while security forces were going on house-to-house checks to find the remnants of the foreign militants who are believed to have broken up into smaller groups.

The two were found in a bush in Kampung Sungai Bilis yesterday.

Two General Operations Force personnel were wounded in an overnight gun battle around Kampung Tanjung Batu, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar.

He added that both the wounded GOF men, aged 25 from Miri, were given onsite treatment by paramedics and were later flown by helicopter to the Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan.

One of them suffered a gunshot wound on his calf and the other on his thigh.

“They are in stable condition and are the first two injuries sustained by Malaysian security forces following the launch of Ops Daulat on March 5,” he said at the Felda Residence Sahabat resort yesterday.

The two officers were hit during sporadic gun fights between 8pm on Saturday and 4am yesterday at Kampung Tanjung Batu.

The troops are moving towards the Sungai Bilis mangrove area, where it is believed that the remaining gunmen had split up into pairs or groups and are trying to flee the Red Zone.

Relating how the teenager was killed, Ismail said a security unit stumbled upon three men and two women coming out of bushes near Sungai Bilis at about 9.45am yesterday.

As they were being frisked, the security forces heard sounds and spotted movements from the bushes and spontaneously fired shots at that direction.

“Our men immediately fired at the bushes as there was a possibility that they were about to be attacked by the gunmen. Upon checking, they found the boy, believed to be between 12 and 15 years old, dead, and a man in his 30s injured in the leg.

“A medical team was rushed to the area and they provided treatment to the injured man,” he added.

When asked if the two were part of the intruders, Ismail said they had no documents.

Ismail said the injured man was later detained.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: Filipinos in the east coast making a run for it

Seeking safety: Residents of Kampung Tanjung Labian fleeing their homes on foot on the sixth day of Ops Daulat. — Bernama

LAHAD DATU: Worried Filipinos are fleeing the east coast of Sabah as the operation to flush out remnants of the Sulu armed group continues.

Using whatever boats available to get past a tight blockade enforced by Malaysia and the Philippines, hordes of them have been arriving in Tawi-Tawi since last week.

Tawi-Tawi Governor Sadikul Sahali said some 600 people, mostly women and children of Suluk origin, had reached Bongoa, less then an hour from here, as of yesterday.

“We are providing temporary shelter and food until they return to their respective provinces,” he said, adding that all those who arrived had no links to Raja Muda Azzimudie Kiram, the leader of the armed intruders.

He said most of them told the authorities that they returned voluntarily as they were frightened of being caught in the crossfire over the ongoing operations against the Sulu gunmen.

“As Tausugs (identified as Suluks in Sabah) they fear reprisal, that is why they left,” he said.

Sadikul also confirmed that the prices of essential goods, such as rice and sugar as well as diesel and petrol, had gone up by 50% to 80%.

Barter trading between the Tawi-Tawi chain of islands and Sabah has virtually ground to a halt and the province has to get its supplies from Zamboanga in southern Philippines.

Sadikul also said that the Philippine military and coastguards were maintaining their blockade and not allowing any Filipinos to leave for Sabah.

Meanwhile, Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib dismissed Philippine media reports that their citizens were mistreated by Malaysian authorities.

“I strongly deny that. They can say anything but the focus of our operation is only in the two areas of Kampung Tanduo and Kampung Tanjung Batu,” he said.

Hamza denied another report that shots were fired at Filipinos who were leaving Sandakan.

 

[BlackRiders]

Monday March 11, 2013

Lahad Datu: ‘The armed gunman was watching us’

Reports by P.K. KATHARASON, MUGUNTAN VANAR, RUBEN SARIO, STEPHANIE LEE, PHILIP GOLINGAI, SHAHANAAZ HABIB, SHAUN HO, RAZAK AHMAD, AUSTIN CAMOENS, P. ARUNA, YUEN MEIKENG, CHRISTINA TAN, IVAN LOH, NIK NAIZI HUSIN and HAMDAN RAJA ABDULLAH

The Star photographer Normimie Diun and a group of journalists had a close encounter with a gunman as they were heading towards the frontline yesterday morning.

They were about 3km away from a place where elite police and military units were flushing out remnants of the Sulu armed group when she saw a gunman in the oil palm plantation.

This is her first person account:

“At around 9.30am, I decided to drive towards Kampung Tanjung Labian. We (journalists in two cars) headed to our usual spot, a junction to the red zone (where the armed forces are conducting their operations against Sulu gunmen hiding in two coastal villages).

The place, about 20km from the media centre (in Felda Residence Sahabat resort) and about 150km from Lahad Datu town, has the best likelihood for photo opportunities.

It is where you can photograph suspects being led away or see military and police vehicles coming in and going out.

Usually, there is a police roadblock manned by two or three policemen who will not allow civilians to enter the red zone, located about 15km away. There are also snipers hiding around the area.

But when we arrived there was no police roadblock. We decided to drive on after seeing a villager on a motorcycle coming out of the road.

We thought it was safe as it looked like the situation there had gone back to normal.

As we drove on, we still did not see any policemen, and so we became more confident that the situation in the no-entry zone was back to normal.

After driving for 2km, we arrived at a village with about 20 wooden and concrete houses.

But the village was deserted and doors of the houses were mostly wide open.

I told my colleagues to be careful as there was nobody in the village and it could be occupied by armed intruders.

Then I saw several Afghan shawls on the clothesline – the black-and-white ones – and I noticed that there were no children’s clothes.

I said to myself: ‘The armed intruders are here.’

We quickly left the place and drove in the direction of Tanjung Batu to find areas where our armed forces were present.

As we passed Kampung Labian, I saw a shadow of a man squatting among oil palm trees on the left side of the road, about 10m from our car. I said that I had seen a man.

Serieffa (Mushtafa Al Bakry, the Al-Hijrah television news journalist) who was driving the car said he too saw the man holding a gun.

I looked again at the man and noticed that he was holding a gun that looked like an M-16. He was dressed in black and looked like he was in his 50s.

I saw that he was staring at us. He looked like a typical villager but he was holding a gun.

My companions wanted to shoot the armed man (with their cameras). I shouted to them: ‘Don’t!’ I also told them to keep down and put away their cameras.

My immediate thought was that he could mistake our equipment as weapons and fire at us.

In the car we kept saying ‘Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar’ (God is great, God is great) as Serieffa slammed the accelerator and sped off at 120kph.

As we reached the main Felda road, we came across about 30 frightened villagers of Tanjung Labian. They had heard four gunshots just minutes earlier.

One of them, Achar Jalil, said they were told by their village chief to remain in the area despite advice from Malaysian authorities to evacuate on Monday.

As we left Tanjung Labian, we saw police personnel in a truck heading into the area.

In my 17 years with The Star as a photographer, this is the first time I had come face-to-face with a gunman in a battle zone.”

(Four hours later, Normimie and the other journalists returned to the junction leading to Tanjung Labian, but this time their cars were stopped at a heavily guarded roadblock. Policemen told them not to drive any further.)

 

[BlackRiders]

MALAYSIA

As dragnet widens, Sulu Sultanate uses faith to appeal for ceasefire

BY CLARA CHOOI
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
MARCH 11, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — Prove you are a Muslim country, the Sulu Sultanate has challenged Malaysia, wielding the religious card in a last-ditch effort to stop the deadly crackdown against its followers in Sabah.

Jacel Kiram, the daughter of the self-styled Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, pointed out that the Islamic faith considers it a sin to steal the land of others or to pilfer from it.

File photo of Jacel (left) with her father Jamalul at their home in Manila on February 26, 2013. — Reuters pic

“In Islam, if you grab the land of another, when you eat the fruit of the land that is not yours [it is a sin]… Malaysia is a Muslim country, it should prove it’s being a Muslim,” she said in an interview with ABN-CBS network’s “Bottomline” programme yesterday.

Jacel maintained her family’s conviction that the Sulu Sultanate still has ownership of Sabah, citing historical records dating back to the late 17th century when the Brunei Sultan gifted the land, known as North Borneo, to the Sulu Sultan in exchange for the latter’s help in suppressing a rebellion.

She pointed to Sabah’s richness in resources and said that should the Sultanate achieve its ownership goal, “we can lay claim over US$73 billion (RM226 billion) of its resources, not one Filipino will anymore experience poverty.”

Jacel also denied claims of conspiracy that have been bandied about in the media, and insisted that her family was not after money but was looking for brighter futures for their family and their followers in the Philippines’ Muslim south.

She pointed out to ABN-CBS that her father Jamalul was even once offered the post of president in exchange for dropping his claim on Sabah but dropped it out of principle.

“If this is all about money, I remember when my father was offered by someone [in the past], ‘boss, just sign this [cede Sabah] and you will be next president of the Philippines. My father said, ‘Pare, it’s too heavy, I can’t carry that’,” she was quoted as saying.

“I got goosebumps (when I heard that). My father is priceless.”

She maintained that the struggle in Sabah was more about honour and integrity, not just for the Sulu Sultanate but all of the Philippines.

“The issue here now is honour above life. What is life without honour,” she said, according to ABN-CBS News. “We carry the whole sultanate, the whole country, the people.”

Jacel’s uncle, Sulu “crown prince” Agbimuddin Kiram, landed in Lahad Datu, Sabah, with a group of over 200 armed rebels on February 9 to lay the sultanate’s claim over the territory.

Their intrusion spurred both the Malaysian and the Philippine governments to attempt a peaceful solution to the protracted territorial dispute that could see recent improvements in bilateral ties scuttled.

But negotiations with the Kiram family fell flat and on the 20th day of the armed incursion on March 1, Malaysian security forces clashed in ground battles with Agbimuddin and his forces.

Over 20 Sulu gunmen and two Malaysian commandos were killed in the first of the battles in Lahad Datu, a coastal district separated from the Philippines by a mere 40-minute boat ride.

The Sulu clan refused to lay down arms, however, and an ambush in Semporna, a neighbouring district about two hours outside of Lahad Datu, saw six more Malaysian lives claimed.

Videos and reports that the bodies of those who were killed were desecrated and brutalised by the Filipino militants went viral on the Internet, adding fuel to an already delicate situation.

Last Monday, the Philippine government said it had no choice but to leave the fate of the Sulu army in Sabah in the hands of Malaysia’s security forces, noting repeated attempts to coax the invaders back to the Philippines to broker a peace deal.

President Benigno Aquino III’s spokesman Ricky Carandang was reported as saying that repeated attempts at negotiating a peaceful resolution with the armed rebels had failed.

“We’ve done everything we could to prevent this, but in the end, Kiram’s people chose this path,” he said in a report on ABN-CBS News.

On Tuesday, Malaysia launched Ops Daulat, an all-out mission to kill and destroy the rebel group, that started with aerial attacks of bombs and artillery fire.

The Kiram family called for a ceasefire two days later on Thursday but refused to abandon its claim on Sabah. Its call was immediately rejected by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who demanded that the militants surrender unconditionally or face death.

On Saturday, Jacel appealed to the remaining members of the rebel group to stay loyal to Agbimuddin, pointing out that their landing in Sabah on February 9 was merely their peaceful return “home”.

“Please remain... this is honour above life,” she was quoted as saying in a report on Philippine media network ABN-CBS News website. “Their only wish is to stay there... it is their home, they want to live there peacefully.”

A total of 62 people have been killed so far since March 1, including 53 Sulu militants, eight Malaysian policemen and an unidentified teenager.

 

[BlackRiders]

Palace condemns Malaysian police abuses

Groups urge gov’t to protest to KL

By TJ Burgonio, Christine O. Avendaño

Philippine Daily Inquirer​

12:09 am | Monday, March 11th, 2013

Malacañang on Sunday condemned the reported abuses suffered by Filipinos at the hands of Malaysian police in the crackdown on followers of the sultan of Sulu in Sabah.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is verifying the report published by the Inquirer Sunday based on the accounts given by Filipinos fleeing violence sparked by the intrusion of the followers of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III into Sabah.

One refugee, Amira Taradji, spoke of how Malaysian police conducting sweeps of villages in search of the sultan’s followers rounded up Filipino men, made them run as fast as they could, and shot them.One of the men killed in Sandakan was Taradji’s brother Jumadil.

Even Filipinos with immigration papers were being rounded up and thrown into jails, Taradji said.Some who tried to avoid arrest by showing their papers were shot, she said.Seventy-nine people, including Tausug and Orang Suluk (people who originated from Sulu), were rounded up on Friday in police sweeps of villages to flush out supporters of Jamalul’s attempt to retake Sabah from Malaysia.

Thirty-three more, including four women, were arrested Sunday morning on suspicion of abetting the intruders, including providing them with security information.The Semporna police chief, Firdaus Francis Abdullah, said the suspects, all foreigners, were detained at Bakau. He did not say if the foreigners were Filipinos, but Bakau has many Filipino residents.

Firdaus said four of those arrested were believed to be intruders.Malaysian police chief Ismail Omar reported that a teenage boy was shot dead and a man was wounded by security forces in the bushes in the battle zone Sunday.

Unacceptable

Omar did not say whether the man and the boy were followers of the Sulu sultan.Sixty-one people have been killed in fighting since the intrusion led to violence on March 1, including 53 Filipinos and eight Malaysian policemen.

Speaking on state-run dzRB radio on Sunday, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said abuses against Filipinos in Sabah was “unacceptable” to the government.Valte said Philippine diplomats would talk to the Malaysians about the reported abuses.

She said President Aquino spoke with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on March 2 and received assurance that the rights of the 800,000 Filipinos in Malaysia would be protected.The DFA began verifying the Inquirer report on Sunday. In a statement issued Sunday, the DFA said the Malaysian government should clarify the reported abuses.

“If this is true, we will tell them that this should not happen because the safety of all Filipinos in … Sabah is important,” DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said in interview on dzRB.Hernandez said the government would appeal to Malaysia to treat Filipinos in Sabah humanely.

He said Malaysia had not responded to a Philippine request for updated information about Filipino casualties in the fighting between Malaysian security forces and followers of Jamalul led by the sultan’s brother Agbimuddin.

The Philippines has asked Malaysia to be given access to 10 sultanate followers who were captured during a police raid on Agbimuddin’s group in Tanduao village in Lahad Datu town on March 1, but the Malaysians have not responded, Hernandez said. Malaysia also has not responded to the Philippines’ request for permission for a mercy ship to go to Sabah to pick up Filipinos who want to return home, Hernandez said.

Protest it

Omar declined to comment on the reported police abuses, saying he did not want to dignify the refugees’ claims.Omar said the police was handling the operation against Jamalul’s followers with professionalism.Civic and militant groups called for a “humanitarian ceasefire” and urged the government to protest the abuses.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan on Sunday pressed the government to protest the brutal crackdown on Filipinos in Sabah or its silence might be understood as a tacit approval of the Malaysian government’s mail-fisted response to the intrusion.

“The crackdown on Filipino civilians must stop. The abuses must end. The Aquino government should vigorously condemn the atrocities. Aquino himself should speak out against these atrocities. The Department of Foreign Affairs should file a formal protest against Malaysia,” Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes Jr. said.

The reported ordeal of Filipinos in Sabah has prompted at least 93 civil society groups in the Philippines and Malaysia to call for a “humanitarian ceasefire” to ensure the safety of noncombatants in the eastern Malaysian state.The appeal is addressed to President Aquino, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Jamalul.

The groups also called for the setting up of “safe zones” where humanitarian organizations could help people fleeing from the violence in the territory.

Flight from Sabah

Filipinos have been fleeing the violence in Sabah since Monday last week.Taradji’s group of about 400 refugees crossed the Sulu Sea in a boat from Sandakan and arrived in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, on Friday.Three hundred more arrived in Jolo in another boat from Sandakan on Saturday with stories of Malaysian police abuses committed against Tausug residents of Sabah.

The fresh stories tended to confirm Taradji’s report of police brutality. A female refugee said Tausug suspected of supporting Agbimuddin’s group were not allowed to buy food to prevent help from reaching the intruders, who were believed moving between the villages of Tanduao and Tanjung Batu in pairs or small units.

Stranded refugees

Sources in Lahad Datu said Malaysian police had been arresting immigrants since the killing of two policemen by Agbimuddin’s group on March 1.The Philippine Navy on Sunday reported that 400 refugees had been stranded on Taganak Island (Turtle Island) since Saturday night, waiting to be rescued.Navy Capt.

Rene Yongque, commander of Naval Task Force 62, said the refugees, all from Sandakan, reached Philippine waters in wooden boat past 7 p.m. Saturday.Yongque said the Navy’s vessel Sultan Kudarat had been dispatched to rescue the refugees.The Department of Social Welfare and Development said it would help the refugees get to Bongao.

—With reports from Julie Alipala, Karlos Manlupig, Allan Nawal and Ryan D. Rosauro, Inquirer Mindanao; and The Star/Asia News Network

​

 

[BlackRiders]

 

[BlackRiders]