Sabah security compromised in name of ‘brotherhood’

By admin-s On May 9, 2014

(FMT) – Sabah is a victim of Umno ‘fanning’ insurgency in Mindanao and its expansionist policies.

Umno’s political expedience in Sabah and its ‘involvement’ in Southern Philippines is to blame for the assaults on Sabah security.

While Putrajaya patted its own back for having brokered a peace deal between a Christian-Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Sabah has been a victim of the federal government’s expansionist policies, political lies and the displeasure of splinter armed factions including the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and hired mercenaries who are ex-members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Bingkor assemblyman Jeffrey Kitingan said the recurrence of cross border crimes, kidnappings and incursions is because of Umno-led Putrajaya’s continued support of rebels and insurgency insouthern Philippines in the name of religion and Muslim brotherhood.

“Now, would-be-kidnappers, who may well be “Malaysians” are operating within our borders and can easily collaborate with their countrymen outside our borders.

“They are familiar with our borders and our security system loopholes.

“They probably have better intelligence than our own security.

“Does our intelligence know who are their next targets?” asked Kitingan, who is Bingkor assemblyman.

Kitingan, who has long been urging the Musa Aman administration to set up a Homeland Security Ministry, said that the decades of granting Mykads to illegal immigrants for political expediency had undermined the state and national security and had enabled militants to establish sleeper cells across Sabah.

Sabah has for decades been rumoured to house guerillas and training camps for Muslims militants, particularly the MNLF whose strongholds are in the nearby Sulu archipelago.

During the 1970s, its founder Nur Misuari established himself as the pre-eminent leader of theSulus and was recognized by the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

But Misuari’s authority was undermined through an internal split in 1978. It led to the establishment of the MILF which based itself on the main island of Mindanao.

The MILF is the group which KL helped broker a deal with Manila.

The deal left MNLF and Nur Misuari, once an erstwhile friend of Malaysia and now a fugitive, out in the cold.

Misuari outplayed

Many loyal former MNLF members living in Sabah villages and in Mindanao are reportedly unhappy with the MILF-Manila deal.

Malaysia is reportedly Bangsamoro’s main international backer and rumours have it that the peace pact has given Malaysia leverage over negotiations with Manila for a slice of the trillions of dollars worth of oil, gas and mineral reserves on Moro ancestral land and the Sulu Sea.