Kidnap, ransom becoming a habit

During the decades long civil unrest in Mindanao, thousands of civilians seeked safety within Sabah borders. In the process thousands were issued citizenship-for-votes by the Umno-led BN regime under the now infamous Project IC.

KOTA KINABALU: Incidents such as the Sempurna kidnapping has become a habit and will continue if nothing is done to curb the situation, said Bingkor assemblyman Jefferey Kitingan.

“We will be known as an easy target if the situation is not improved. This should not go on. Something should be done to make situations like this impossible for people such as these kidnappers,” he said.

Kitingan was responding to the security breech on April 2 when seven armed men from southern Philippines stormed a resort barely five minutes from Semporna and abducted a China national and a Filipino worker.

Yesterday Home Minister Zahid Hamidi said the kidnappers, believed to be linked to the Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremist group, had demanded RM36.4 million for the release of the 29-year-old Gao Hua Yuan from Shanghai. He said there was no ransom demand for 40-year Marcy Darawan.

Kitingan said kidnappings and cross border crimes were not uncommon in Sabah and both the state and federal governments should already have foreseen situations like these in the past. Kitingan reiterated his wish for a local task force to be established to complement the federal specialists.

He said by establishing Sabah’s own homeland security, there will be a stronger sentiment to protect the area as the land belongs to the Sabahans. He said the central government was however more interested in politics that serve its own interest rather than the security of Sabah.

“And that means the problem can never be resolved,” he said.

Earlier this week Kitingan, who is Sabah Star chief blamed the ongoing security challenge and risk facing Sabah on Putrajaya. He accused Putrajaya of aiding and arming Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines and issuing Malaysian ICs to illegal immigrants in Sabah for political purposes.

He lamented that despite the beefing up of security personnel in response to the Tanduo Sulu intrusion last February and the establishment of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) and Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) in the east coast of Sabah, pirate raids and kidnappings continued in Semporna.

Last week, Sabah Police Chief Hamza Taib said the April 2 kidnapping was an ‘inside’ job. He said the resort had been operating for more than 10 years and without “inside” help, it would not have been easy for the intruders to enter, especially at 10.30pm, because many obstacles had been put up to deter them.

Sabah and southern Philippines’ Sulu province have a personal and historical relationship. During the decades long civil unrest in Mindanao, thousands of civilians seeked safety within Sabah borders. In the process thousands were issued citizenship-for-votes by the Umno-led BN regime under the now infamous Project IC.

The Sulu sultanate believes that based on historical facts, it owns Sabah and that their land was only ‘leased’ to Malaysia. Malaysia is paying a ‘lease’ fee to the sultanate.

FMT Borneo Plus