Security on alert for ‘invasion’

By Farrah Naz Karim, NST

PUTRAJAYA: The government is not taking lightly the invasion threat by Indonesia’s Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (Bendera) and to wage war.

Bendera had allegedly threatened to send 1,500 troops — armed with sharpened
bamboo — to Malaysia by air, land and sea tomorrow. All relevant enforcement
agencies have been told to gear up for any possibility of members of the group penetrating Malaysian shores. Their sole mission is to “avenge all the alleged wrongs committed against Indonesia”.

The group is the same one which had set up roadblocks in Menteng, Central Jakarta last month, in search of Malaysians. National Security Council secretary

Datuk Mohamed Tajudeen Abdul Wahab said security at all Malaysian borders, which were manned by the military, had been tightened and enforcement agencies,
including the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, had been directed
to conduct daily surveillance.

“While we see this as a group of mad fools’ rhetoric, we are not taking
any chances as this involves the lives of our people.

“We are taking precautionary measures and we have an assurance from the Indonesian government that they would not allow it to happen,”he told the New Straits Times.

Tajudeen said the government’s intelligence had identified strategic areas
of illegal landings along the 880km coastline in the west coast of
the peninsula. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said police had heightened vigilance since the threat was issued and would be on the look out
for “troublemakers”.

His men would be on high-alert patrols and act against anyone who posed threats to Malaysians. Immigration Department director-general Abdul Rahman Othman said
his men at all entry points in the country had been put on high alert.

“We are checking all the points, including ports. We are on full alert for

 

unsavoury characters trying to come into the country.”

Foreign Affairs Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Rastam Mohd Isa said Malaysia would take up this latest threat with the Indonesian government