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hoot72
03-03-2013, 07:40
7 malaysian police officers were killed over the past 3 days by Suluk/Moro rebels belonging to one of the sultan's of Sulu who is now claiming North Borneo as his own. 12 rebels aka pirates were killed in return fire from the police officers in 2 separate incidents which started 3 weeks ago.

Situation is very tense at the moment on the east coast of Sabah. All good everywhere else outside of Semporna, Kunak and Lahad Datu.

Police and Army cordon around these three areas.


LAHAD DATU: The situation in three areas where security forces are holding off armed Sulu intruders is under control, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar.

"I have called the armed forces chief (Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin) to strengthen our position over incidents involving the armed intruders in three areas.

"We are in a state of readiness to take further action," he told a news conference at Felda Residence Sahabat, about 130 km from here.

Present were Zulkifeli, Bukit Aman internal security and public order director Datuk Salleh Mat Rashid and Sabah police commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib.

The areas are Lahad Datu, Semporna and Kunak.

Three armed intruders were nabbed by the security forces in Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu as they tried to leave the cordoned area; while five policemen were shot dead in Kampung Seri Jaya Simunul, Semporna, and 10 armed intruders sighted in Kampung Lumalong and Kampung Dasar Lama in Kunak.

Ismail asked the people not to believe in rumours and unconfirmed reports on the situation or make assumptions based on postings on social media networks.

He said the police have not imposed a curfew in the areas and assured tourists of their safety.

Zulkifeli said Lahad Datu, Semporna and Kunak residents should go about their daily activities as usual without worrying as the armed forces and police were working closely to address the security situation there.

"The IGP and I are mapping out operations and we can handle this situation by enforcing tight security," he said.

Zulkifeli said two more battalions have been deployed in several areas in the east coast of Sabah to restore public confidence. - Bernama

Link: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/3/3/nation/20130303182024&sec=nation

hoot72
03-03-2013, 07:41
LAHAD DATU: Five policemen were killed when they were ambushed at a village on stilts in the east coast town of Semporna late Saturday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said.

He said this was among the three "situations" in Sabah being handled by police, adding that in the Semporna attack, a police team had entered Kampung Sri Jaya within the seaside Siminul settlement to hunt for a group of armed gunmen when they were fired upon.

He said two of the gunmen were killed in the shootout with the police team. Police have encircled the village to track down the remaining gunmen, he added.

Ismail said security forces were on the hunt for 10 men, three of whom were armed and seen wearing military fatigues at two villages in the east-coast district of Kunak at about 10pm on Saturday.

He said the intruders were spotted at Kampung Lormalong and Kampung Dasar Lama and police had mounted a manhunt to track them down.

Ismail said police were trying to establish if the Semporna and Kunak incidents were connected to the stand-off at Kampung Tanduo at the Felda Sahabat area where more than 100 armed Sulu gunmen have been holed up for about three weeks.

Ismail said police had arrested three men who were trying to slip through a security cordon around Kampung Tanduo late Saturday as well.

He said the three who were armed with a knife had been detained for further questioning.

Link: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/3/3/nation/20130303125345&sec=nation

hoot72
03-03-2013, 07:44
Updated: Sunday March 3, 2013 MYT 10:04:39 AM


Another policeman killed in shootout with intruders in Semporna

KUALA LUMPUR: Another member of the Malaysian security forces has been killed, this time in a firefight with armed intruders in Kampung Selamat, Semporna, about 150km from Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu, Sabah.

According to a police source, another policeman was also injured in the firefight which began at 8pm Saturday.

Lahad Datu and Tawau Police Special Investigation Divisions have been deployed to the scene.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar, when contacted, confirmed the incident but refused to comment further.

On Friday, two VAT 69 police commandos were killed, while three others were injured in a shootout with the armed intruders in Kampung Tandou.

Twelve of the armed intruders were also killed. - Bernama

Link: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/3/3/nation/20130303012909&sec=nation

hoot72
03-03-2013, 17:05
Link: http://opinion.inquirer.net/47971/its-borders-with-longer-histories-stupid#

It’s borders with long(er) histories, stupid
By Patricio N. Abinales


PAGE DESIGN AND INQMAP BY ERNIE SAMBO

A 19TH-CENTURY Sulu chief dressed in the high fashion of the day: head cloth of Bengal manufacture, Chinese silk jacket, satin pants and several pieces kris. photo:“The Global Economy and the Sulu Zone” by James Francis Warren

Anyone honestly curious and concerned about what is happening “down south” these days may wish to purchase a recent book put out by the Ateneo de Manila University Press. Arli Nimmo’s “A Very Far Place: Tales of Tawi-Tawi” is about his long sojourn as a graduate student in this wonderfully distinct place of hundreds of islands and islets. He writes about communities whose notions of boundary are antipodal to how the rest of the country understands the term.

Where Manila and Kuala Lumpur classify residents of Tawi-Tawi and neighboring Sabah as “Filipinos” and “Malaysians,” respectively, the inhabitants see these official tags as skin-deep and their utility limited (to be brought up only during elections and when they pass official immigration posts). Instead of these “modern” categories, they are comfortable with how they really call themselves—Tausug, Sama Dilaut, Sama Delaya, Kazadan, etc. These are identities that persist and to which a new layer—citizenship—would be added.

Hence, where Manila and Kuala Lumpur see Tawi-Tawi as “a far distant place,” the communities in these places (if we add Borneo) regard their location as one of many nodal points of a maritime trading network that predates as well as transcends the constricting official national territories. Theirs are places that are regional in outlook, a fact often glossed over.

Older than nation state

The authority that was part of a network of city ports lording over this domain naturally mirrored this older history and this wider world. The Sulu Sultanate is historically older than the Philippine nation-state, the Sarawak of the White Rajahs and the Sabah of the Malaysian Federation.

The sultanate outlasted the Spanish colonialists and sought a treaty with the British commercial syndicate that was running North Borneo (a corporation) as a way of reinforcing its position. But in so doing, the Sulu Sultanate weakened itself, such that by the time the Americans came Jamalul Kiram had signed a treaty with British North Borneo, ceding parts of his domain in exchange for an annual subsidy of $5,000. The Americans added to the predicament with yet another treaty signed by a middle-ranking officer (no worth to Manila or the US War Department) and the Sultan of Sulu.

All this may be a series of setbacks, but the series of retreats that considerably reduced the sultanate’s domain was understood not in national terms. The sultan never saw himself as Filipino. He lived in Sulu, but his other residence—during the first decade of American rule—was in Singapore, one of the many trading ports where he used to conduct business. So, it is a mistake for current-day commentators to insist that this Sabah claim was a rightful claim of the Sulu Sultanate as a Filipino entity.

No other option

It never was. Well, until the sultan’s heir and relatives realized that their Southeast Asian world had completely disappeared as the various colonial powers consolidated their territorial stakes in the region. With Singapore closed, Borneo under British mercantile regulation and the Americans and their Filipino allies adamant in keeping Muslim Mindanao a formal part of the Philippine geo-body, there was no other option but to become Filipino.

In short, the Sulu Sultanate of today is not the same as it was over 100 years ago. Then, it was a Southeast Asian entity; today, it is a Filipino caricature of its old self, a museum piece that national historians and ideologues would show to the public as yet another evidence of the unstoppable march of national (and modern) unity.

Speaking in Filipino

And what ironically exemplifies this poignant transmutation is the current sultan himself: living in Taguig in Metro Manila and speaking to the public not in Tausug or English (the language taught to his elders by the Americanos), but in the national language—Filipino!

But even mutations can retain the mental footprints of their old selves. When Jamalul Kiram III ordered his brother to arm 100 of their men and seize the small town of Lahad Datu in Sabah, he supposedly acted on a “historic claim,” Sabah being owned by the sultanate. But why did Kiram and followers opt to “capture” a small inconsequential town two hours and 45 minutes by car from Sandakan? Why not attack it instead (or Semporna)?

No Bud Dajo

There is no record of Lahad Datu as having the same stature as Jolo, and even today its claim to (small) fame is being the “base” of the Borneo Child Aid Society and a palm oil industrial cluster. And it is definitely no Bud Dajo, that village where hundreds of defiant Tausug—men, women and children—died fighting the Americans (a feat that is now part of the lore of struggle of the Bangsamoro).

Moreover, mustering 100 people in the Mindanao war zone is not really unusual. The clan wars (rido) that Asia Foundation has amazingly tracked could easily involve family armies that can run in the hundreds. What is sadly noticeable about the Lahad Datu occupation is how much the Sulu Sultanate has really diminished in name: the Kirams could only muster a force of 100! Even Umbra Kato, a renegade commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has more men under his command.

SULTAN Jamal ul-Azam, also known as Jamalul Alam (ruled from 1862 to 1881) photo: “Muslims in the Philippines” by Cesar Adib Majul

But still, why do it? And how could a doddering authority still convince 100 men to bring out their motley arms and dare challenge a much superior force?

Weak state presence

Here, we find a bizarre melding of an antiquated authority that is now firmly Filipino (the sultanate) with two other realities in the Sulu zone. On the one hand, there is the consistent failure of the Philippine nation-state to assert its authority and gain the consent of its supposed subjects on this distant frontier. On the other, as a result of weak state presence, an everyday life that was still rooted in a regional maritime frame (this despite the selling out or compromises of their traditional elites) continued to persist.

Nimmo described this pathetic government presence this way: “The Philippine Air Force maintained a skeletal outpost on Sanga-Sanga Island where commercial flights of Philippine Airlines were scheduled to arrive twice weekly but often did not. The Air Force base had a jeep as did the small Philippine Navy base on Tawi-Tawi island….”

Mindanao war

No wonder then that when I chanced upon two Malaysian air force officers taking graduate studies in the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey, California, almost a decade ago, they reminisced—quite fondly—about how it was easy for them to transport guns from Sabah to the camps of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) at the height of the Mindanao war in the 1970s.

Things hardly changed a few years after that when, in a visit to Tawi-Tawi, the only visible government presence I saw was a poorly refurbished Philippine Navy ship that probably first saw action in the Korean War.

(Alongside Nimmo, a great read—because I think it will not be surpassed for at least a decade—is the writer Criselda Yabes’ “Peace Warriors: On the Trail with Filipino Soldiers,” a superb compilation of field notes of her visit to AFP camps in Muslim Mindanao.)

Mistrusted

In many villages of Muslim Mindanao, the Philippine state is hardly acknowledged and in the war zones highly mistrusted; people’s first encounter with government was a soldier with a weapon, shouting at them in a strange language (Tagalog, oftentimes Ilocano) and ready to fire at their homes. There were no civilian civil servants at all and if ever there were public school teachers brave enough to try to educate the children, they were hampered by the lack of resources because local politicians had run away with the payroll.

The absence of the state naturally means the refusal of opportunistic business enterprises to expand into these southern borders, leaving the premodern regional maritime trade as the only viable source of livelihood. The modern nation-state has naturally branded this as illicit and criminal, but because its enforcing mechanisms are pathetically laughable, communities continue with it, perhaps a little bit mindful that the occasional “raids” may eat into their revenue.

hoot72
03-03-2013, 17:07
Cousins, families

Territorially, this means that national boundaries are of no concern, and cousins, families and business partners from both the Borneo and the Sulu side saw no need to worry about national identification cards.

It also means that even as the majority prefers to stick to commerce and trade, there will still be those who regard business as the product of tradition. The people who joined the petite uprising are most likely those who consider their lives inextricably linked to an “old tradition,” which sees their family histories as inextricably linked to an authority that was neither Malaysian nor Filipino. It is a primordial sentiment that has not been erased because the absence of the national state (particularly the critical educational apparatuses that could change young minds) made sure that it would be preserved.

But the speed with which this rebellion—so overrated in Manila and Kuala Lumpur—was stamped out also suggests the fragility of this old mentality. A few shots, some killed and wounded, and everyone appear to head home.

Or perhaps there is also another complementary explanation. The shootings may have surprised them, but the Sabah police most likely knew that the tension was easy to defuse. After all, those armed men at the other side of the checkpoints, were probably their relatives, business associates, even neighbors. Companies that they and their families have known and kept long before there was this imagined border that separated Borneo from Tawi-Tawi and the larger Sulu archipelago.

This brings us to a final point to consider. If this small town occupation was of historic significance, why are the two important Muslim Mindanao players keeping a distance from the Kirams and their men? Neither the fractious MNLF nor the far-stronger MILF has sent any of their battle-scarred companies to join the Kirams. And we have not heard any statements of solidarity from the spokespersons of these “movements.”

Pragmatic Moro politics

The silence, I suspect, has something to do with pragmatic politics. Like the old sultan, these two organizations have made their peace with Manila and have accepted the offer of autonomy. The MNLF and MILF are—despite misgivings—happy to be part of the Philippine geo-body.

But being movements borne out of more modern ideologies, these two organizations have very little to be in solidarity with the Sulu Sultanate. The MNLF’s secular ideology sees the sultanate as the very archaic, feudal power that had collaborated with Filipino colonialism to exploit, marginalize and repress the umma, while the MILF treats this “indigenized” political authority as pre-Islamic and hence, backward.

Besides, both would always be grateful for the Malaysian government’s support for their separatist struggle in the past. Why bite a hand that used to feed them? And why waste resources on something that had no prospects of even making a dent on Malaysian stability?

The skirmish is over and the border zone will be, as it were, back in business once again. And Manila and Kuala Lumpur may find it just prudent to let things be, to let the locals deal with the quirks of an existence, which hardly matter to the two capitals.

(Patricio N. Abinales is professor of Asian Studies, University of Hawaii-Manoa. His latest book is “Orthodoxy and History in the Muslim Mindanao Narrative” [Ateneo: 2010]. He is working on a manuscript on the Growth with Equity in Mindanao [GEM] and the American economic presence in the war zones of Muslim Mindanao. Despite his current address, he remains an official resident of Ozamiz City, northern Mindanao.)

hoot72
03-12-2013, 20:38
Fighting broke out about 10 days ago...thus far 8 policemen have been killed in ambushes (2 VAT69 commando's were killed by snipers when they came face to face with Pirates at the perimeter of their line and 6 police officers including senior police special branch officers were ambushed as they entered a water village in Semporna to investigate reports of armed men in the village) and 2 army troops (1 in a gun fight and the other in a traffic accident) as of today.

A further 5-8 police and army personnel have been evacuated from injuries from explosions (grenades) and small arms and heavy arms fire.

Thus far, over 50 bodies of the pirates have been collected from the village and over 100 people arrested in the area and in Lahad Datu and Semporna for either having direct ties to the pirates or being involved in the ambush in Semporna.

The fighting has been limited now to a cordon around the village outside of Lahad Datu and the Malaysian Air force has pounded the village in question with F-18's and BAE Hawk fighters after the ambush of the 6 police officers in Semporna.

Malaysia has been flying in more battallions of troops, APC's, and assets into the area over the past 10 days. Very tense at the moment on the east coast of Sabah.

This is now a joint military-police operation as it appears the Police were out gunned and needed the army, navy and air force to back them up as they conduct mopping up operations within the new cordon which covers 2-3 palm oil estates and 3-4 villages in the area outside of Lahad Datu.

Lots of police check points along the main highway along the East Coast.

hoot72
03-15-2013, 22:57
The Kiram family and their pirates or rather as they like to be called.."the royal sulu army."

hoot72
03-15-2013, 23:00
The ambush at a village in Semporna in which 6 police officers were ambushed with small arms fire in the water village. Several of the policemen who were wounded were tortured and then brutally killed.

Photo of one of the dead pirates on a gangway in the village. Body was left there for a week.

Photo of the police force going back in a week later with the forensic's team to retrieve body parts and shell casings from the incident.

hoot72
03-15-2013, 23:02
Photos of the mopping up operations at the village outside of Lahad Datu

hoot72
03-15-2013, 23:04
More photos of the cordon and police/army units at the cordon around the villages and within

hoot72
03-15-2013, 23:07
More photos from the cordon and area of operations outside of Lahad Datu, North of Semporna

hoot72
03-15-2013, 23:09
What's been different thus far is the pirates have either a sniper team or a series of marksmen within their group who have been making very accurate head shots, particularly in the first incident in which 2 vat 69 commando's were killed to start the bloody conflict and then another soldier a few days ago.

Thus far, well over 50 pirates killed with the loss of 8 police officers (2 vat 69 commando's and 2 senior special branch police officers) and 2 army troops (1 killed in a traffic mishap).

hoot72
03-16-2013, 19:12
Lahad Datu: Whereabouts of Azzimudie still in doubt following reports he fled back home

Link:http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/3/17/nation/12850252&sec=nation


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Sunday March 17, 2013
Lahad Datu: Whereabouts of Azzimudie still in doubt following reports he fled back home

LAHAD DATU: Questions as to the whereabouts of Sulu terrorist leader Azzimudie Kiram persist even as security forces continue their hunt for the remnants of the armed group estimated to be 50 individuals.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib said that while information and intelligence reports pointed to Azzimudie fleeing back to his native Southern Philippines, security forces were continuing their hunt for the brother of the self-proclaimed Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III.

“If we find him here, we will arrest him,” Comm Hamza said a day after Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar and Armed Forces chief Tan Sri Jen Zulkifeli Mohd Zin said Azzimudie had fled to his homeland.

The Kiram family in Manila, however, insisted that Azzimudie was still in Sabah as they were still keeping in touch with him through his Malaysian cellular telephone number.

“Azzimudie is also wanted in the Philippines, so if they catch him they will charge him there,” said Comm Hamza.

Reports indicated that Azzimudie had fled sometime on Tuesday or Wednesday to one of the southern most islands of Simunul, located some 30 minutes by speed boat from Tanjung Labian in the Felda area.

Meanwhile, security forces expect to wind up their operations at Kampung Tanjung Batu by today and they would then discuss with local community leaders as to when the villagers could return home.

Army Division 1 Commander Mejar-Jeneral Mohd Zaki Mokhtar reported that mopping up operations in Kampung Tanjung Batu found no signs of the terrorists remaining in the area.

Security forces also released new pictures of items seized from the Sulu terrorists, including identification tags belonging to a “general'' identified as Haji Musa.

Among the items recovered were tags bearing the words “General Headquarters” and “Royal Security Force” and the belongings of one Musa A. Abdullah holding the rank of vice chief of staff.

The other items include various articles of clothing, knives, guns, ammunition, mobile phones, chargers, toiletries and other personal items.

Comm Hamza said there had been no skirmishes between security forces and the terrorists over 72 hours as of 5pm yesterday.

hoot72
03-17-2013, 06:22
Link: http://seademon.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/crisis-mismanaged/


Crisis Mismanaged

Posted by: seademon on: March 17, 2013

In: Daily Whatevers | What da f***!!
1 Comment

The Prime Minister recently said that lessons of the Sulu intrusion must be identified. That is only half the battle won. It should also be learnt.

When the Sulu militants began landing at Kampung Tanduo in the Lahad Datu district of Sabah, both the military intelligence and police’s Special Branch knew exactly their numbers, type of weapons, how many more they were expecting, whose house they rendezvoused at and their intention of coming to Sabah. Within hours, elements of the General Operations Force plus the army’s 5th Brigade were deployed to effect a cordon around the area, with combat elements from the Navy, Marine Police and the Maritime Enforcement Agency taking stations offshore. More military conventional and non-conventional forces plus naval assets were already enroute in the ensuing initial hours. Within the first 24-hours, I am in the opinion that we had an overwhelming force to combat the militants. As a former serving officer of His Majesty’s Armed Forces of managerial level, I would have quickly acted in accordance to the Principles of War and the Principles of Crisis Management.

The first Principle of War is the Selection of Aim and its Maintenance. This is the Master Principle that must be established at the commencement of hostilities and followed through and through, and everything else should fall in place. However, we see the pussy-footing of this issue in Putrajaya, in particular the Ministry of Home Affairs, in making decisions. What we saw instead was the downplaying of the seriousness of the matter by the Minister himself. How can we forget his “old men with rusty rifles” response to his appreciation of the enemy’s physical condition, forgetting the fact that these men had been involved in insurgency warfare against their own government, beheading priests and nuns and fellow Muslims, burning churches etc for the past half a century.

20130317-145439.jpg

This was the same reaction from Admiral Sir Tom Phillips while sailing on board one of the Royal Navy’s most-modern battleships, the HMS Prince of Wales, off the east coast of Malaya. “The Japs can’t see us very well because they have slant eyes,” was his remark when Japanese bombers approached his ships.

In short, never underestimate your enemy, and never take your eyes off them. Margaret Thatcher followed this principle upon being informed of the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland islands. Within the first 48 hours, she mustered the largest modern British armada to repel the invasion.

This is because the seventh Principle of Management is You Have 48-Hours. The first 48-hours is the crunch time. If you are not ahead of the crisis within this time, you will be run over by the crisis. What we saw was more negotiations being done by the police as instructed by their superiors. We see that the enemy have already established their aim in accordance with the first Principle of War, yet we were not acting in response to that aim. While the Minister of Home Affairs was seen making ad hoc comments in between plating trees on the issue, still downplaying the crisis, the Minister of Defence was not yet roped into the whole thing to assist in resolving the crisis. This is against the Ninth Principle of War which is Cooperation – to incorporate teamwork, sharing burden of dangers, risks, and opportunities. This gave time for the enemy to maintain their aim of coming to Sabah, and they dug in, with no intention of leaving.

20130317-151138.jpg

There was no communication between the authorities and members of the public, a clear failure in crisis communication. Rules five of the Principles of Crisis Management clearly states that there are three key messages to be delivered within the first 48 hours of the crisis, and they are:
We have a plan to deal with….and this has to go hand-in-hand with the first Principle of War,
We regret to inconvenience…show compassion to the people affected by the crisis so that hey will understand their need to be inconvenienced, and,
We have begun investigations into this matter to ensure this does not occur in the future…you need to re-assure the public that you are on top of this.

You need to back this up with action, but after the first skirmish that saw the demise of the first two policemen from the VAT69, there was no follow up. This was not in accordance with the third principle of war which is Offensive Action. This is the practical way to seek to gain advantage, to sustain the momentum and seize the advantage. This never happened. We lost the fifth principle of war: Surprise.

Instead, there was absolute silence, and misleading statements issued such as the attack on the police party at Kampung Simunul near Semporna that caused a huge loss of life. Gunfire could be heard from nearby islands, and in this age of digital wireless communications, word spreads faster than before the last shot was fired that night. Instead, the official communiqué said it was a drug raid and was not related to the events in Kampung Tanduo. Mind you, although Kampung Tanduo is in the district of Lahad Datu it is much closer to the district of Semporna, gateway to the Tun Sakaran Marine Park, home to the tourist-packed islands of Mabul, Kapalai, Mataking and Sipadan. When this event finally hits the fan, and villagers took it upon themselves to dispatch of one of the militants themselves, did the authorities finally admitted what had happen.

Such silence only fuelled rumours, as stated in the sixth principle of Crisis Management: Beware of the Court of Public Opinion. The Opposition rumour-mill was quick with this, and the government was slow to react, relying on the service of contracted and non-contracted bloggers to do the public relations, while the Ministry of Communications was also slow in its response and did nothing to explain to the masses about the cession agreement so on and so forth, just a response made in passing by the Minister during an ad hoc interview. I often wonder if it was done in such a manner for self-promotion or that Radio Televisyen Malaysia, as an arm of the Ministry of Communications, did not have the time nor resources to come up with fillers to educate the general public on the crux of the issue in Lahad Datu.

In the end, the public wanted action. And finally, the Minister of Defence was roped in. He went back to KL to brief the Prime Minister on what needs to be done. Subsequently, the Prime Minister ordered the police and military to work together and do the necessary to end this. Only now we see a more structured concentration of force and economy of effort by the joint-military-police action against the militants. And finally, press conferences are handled by senior police and military officers who give hard, no-nonsense facts, rather than by politicians who are more familiar with sugar-coating facts.

And as the tenth principle of Crisis Management states: Every Crisis Is An Opportunity. Smart leaders would know that in the midst of a crisis, there is an opportunity to be seized. The government has announced an increase in the defence budget to support the formation of the East Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM). However, the decision to place this command under the Chief Minister of Sabah instead of the National Security Council could be erroneous.

Trust me, there will be more trouble. If there is a lesson to be learnt from all this, it is to leave defence and security matters in the hands of the professionals. Not politicians.

BKKMAN
03-17-2013, 06:51
Seems like the central government made a litany of errors in this particular crisis. Not a huge surprise, but disappointing nonetheless...thanks for taking the time to post all of this information.

The entire Sulu Archipelago has been infested with pockets of militants, pirates, and general d-bags for a long time...

hoot72
03-17-2013, 07:30
Seems like the central government made a litany of errors in this particular crisis. Not a huge surprise, but disappointing nonetheless...thanks for taking the time to post all of this information.

The entire Sulu Archipelago has been infested with pockets of militants, pirates, and general d-bags for a long time...

No worries. I am about 400 kilometers from Lahad Datu so its pretty tense over on this side of Borneo despite the distance.

It's been shocking management of this whole 'mess' from start to this point in time...things only got done after 8 policemen were killed in ambushes and the military were roped in to work in tandem with the police.

It should never have come to this to be honest. People are still puzzled how the government allowed this to last 3 weeks before the policemen got killed with their negotiations...it's just bizzare.

As someone who has seen a suluk killed by his own kind in real life with parangs on a sunday morning in the middle of a major town, nothing surprises me about them. They have such little value for life.
This now today:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2013%2F3%2F17%2Fnation%2F1284942 6&sec=nation

Sunday March 17, 2013

Government-appointed CEO to oversee operations of Eastern Sabah Security Command


KOTA KINABALU: A government-appointed chief executive officer will oversee the overall operations of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM).

Announcing this, Chief Secretary to the Government Datuk Seri Dr Ali Hamsa said there were a few candidates for the post and the state government would also give its suggestions before a decision is made.

He said the CEO's main responsibility would be to coordinate the activities of various agencies such as the military, police and departments tasked to oversee security along the 1,400km-long area.

Dr Ali said a legal team was working on an organisational structure for ESSCOM.

“Once the legal aspects of ESSCOM has been finalised, the appointment of the CEO will be made,” he told reporters after chairing the first meeting of the ESSCOM national-level committee here yesterday.

Present at the meeting were Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar, Armed Forces chief Tan Sri General Zulkifeli Mohd Zin and representatives of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and other relevant departments.

Dr Ali said their next meeting would be in Putrajaya tomorrow.

On the budget for ESSCOM, Dr Ali said he had asked all relevant parties to come up with their immediate and long-term plans or needs.

“I think, in terms of budget, the Government will provide what is necessary. This is an urgent matter,” he said.

Dr Ali also said that three new Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) stations would be opened to improve security measures along Sabah's east coast.

This is in addition to six new police stations in Lahad Datu, Semporna, Pulau Gaya, near the city and Pulau Banggi in Kudat.

hoot72
03-18-2013, 01:03
Let the piracy, murders, kidnappings long continue. What a screwed up country they have.

Link: http://www.rappler.com/nation/24032-detained-kiram-soldiers-released-bail

Detained Kiram soldiers may be released on bail

TAWI-TAWI, Philippines - Tawi-Tawi provincial police director Joselito Salido said on Monday, March 18, that 38 suspected members of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III's Royal Security Force who are detained here may be released soon.
The 3 cases against them are apparently bailable -- illegal possession of firearms, inciting to war, and violation of the election gun ban.
Sulu Sultanate spokesman Abraham Idjirani on Friday, March 15, confirmed that 22 of the 38 arrested in Tawi-Tawi belong to their Royal Security Force. (Read: DOJ to file charges vs 38 Kiram followers)
Chief Public Attorney Percida Acosta arrived here on Monday to provide them legal assistance. After talking to the detainees, Acosta sought for a reduction of the bail. She's asking the local court for P3,000 per detainee. Talk is the court may rule on it Monday or Tuesday.
"It's a matter of right to post bail," Acosta said.
The 38 were intercepted -- in two batches -- by the Philippine Navy on March 13. They have since been detained at the Philippine Navy Naval Base Task Force 62 in Barangay Batu-Batu Panglima Sugala, a town about 45 minutes away from Bongao.
A certain Princess Carolyn Kiram - said to be another daughter of Sultan Kiram - wrote Acosta's office to seek her assistance.
Acosta also wrote the Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Justice to inquire check on the situation of Kiram's followers detained in Malaysia. Acosta said they also want to help them. Malaysia has so far refused to grant Philippine officials access to Filipino prisoners in Sabah.
Acosta said her office will also assist evacuees who were supposedly maltreated in Malaysia. - Rappler.com