Sabah like a second home for MILF leaders

(The Star) – Sabah is like a second home to several Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commanders who have either worked or stayed with relatives in the East Malaysian state.

Commander Adnan Ebrahim lived at Kg Likas in Kota Kinabalu city for about two years during the Marcos era in the 1980s after he accompanied his comrade Sema Bayao (pic) to seek medical treatment there.

“He was injured in a gunbattle with the Philippine government soldiers and could not go to the hospital in Mindanao as he would be arrested,” he said, speaking in Malay.

Adnan, 54, joined the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) as a soldier when he was 15, saying he wanted to fight Manila’s injustice against Muslims.

When MNLF split, he joined the breakaway MILF to fight for the Bangsamoro people.

In Sabah, Adnan worked odd jobs including as a coffeeshop dish washer and manual labourer while Bayao, after recovering, worked as a contract labourer, earning daily wages of RM10 to RM12.

Adnan said life was good in Sabah because there was no trouble.

“In Mindanao, it was a time when (Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos) imposed martial law. And we did not have freedom of movement. Life was dangerous as we were hunted by the Philippine army,” he said. “At times, we had no food we were always on the run.”

“Sabahans did not know I was actually a Moro fighter who had fled my country. I did not tell anyone as I was afraid that there were Philippine government spies in Sabah.”

Adnan and Bayao, 50, later decided to come back and continue their fight for Bangsamoro people.

Now that a peace pact has been signed, Adnan and Bayao said they would not be going back to Sabah any time soon.

Instead, they are hoping Sabah investors will be coming to Mindanao instead.