Home Minister Zahid Hamidi claims they had received a ransom note but Eastern Sabah Security Command director-general Mohammad Mentek says there’s been no “official” demands yet.
KOTA KINABALU: Close on the heels of the initial chaotic handling of the MH370 crisis comes conflicting statements over the ransom demand made for 29-year old Gao Hua Yuan, one of the two foreign nationals kidnapped by armed gunmen on April 2 from a resort in Semporna.
Home Minister Zahid Hamidi claims they had received a ransom note but Eastern Sabah Security Command director-general Mohammad Mentek says there’s been no “official” demands yet.
At the State legislative Assembly sitting yesterday, state Tourism Minister Masidi Manjun castigated Zahid for shooting his mouth off about the ransom when no official demand had yet been received.
“I don’t think announcing the ransom amount will help solve any problems. Any random person could have claimed to pick up a call from the kidnappers,” said Masidi.
Masidi and the Sabah tourism industry are reeling under the impact of the latest kidnapping incident which has seen hundreds of tourists from China canceling their plans to come to Malaysia and Sabah.
Some 35% of Sabah’s tourist arrivals are from China.
Malaysia has officially suspended its VMY2014 plans following the yet unsolved mystery of MH370 which went missing on March 8. Half of the plane’s passengers were China nationals.
The April 2 kidnapping Gao from Shanghai and a Filipina staff by six armed men from Singamata Reef Resort in Semporna, under Esscom’s purview, compounded matters.
It wasn’t the first such kidnapping since Esscom was established.
Admist volleying views over Sabah’s security, Zahid had on April 10 told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that the kidnappers had contacted them.
“We have received a (ransom) note.The kidnappers have asked for 500mil pesos or RM36.4mil as ransom, ” he said, adding that the ransom demand was for Gao. He said there was no ransom demand for the Filipina abductee.
Zahid had also said that his Home Ministry had sent a team – police and negotiators – to discuss the ransom demand.
But yesterday Mentek said there was no “official” demand yet from the kidnappers and that Esscom officers were holding discussions with the Filipino intelligence to find the best way to secure Gao’s release.
“No official demand yet…Maybe there are other parties that are demanding ransom, ” Mentek said.
He also reiterated that Esscom never appointed any individual to negotiate on its behalf with the the kidnappers.
Philippines military said that the duo were abducted by the Abu Sayyaf militant group and are believed to be held captive in southern Philippines.
Yesterday too Manila reiterated that it will continue to observe its “no ransom policy” in handling kidnapping cases.
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