‘Blanket deportation’ as good as ceding sovereignty ― Mat Zain Ibrahim

I am referring to the statement by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein that he has left it to Wisma Putra to decide on the Philippine government’s request of an extension on the deportation of the Lahad Datu intruders.

This gives Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman absolute authority on the matter.

I am not questioning the noble and sincere intention of any party to have this standoff brought to an immediate end and free of bloodshed, as long as this is done within the framework of our laws.

Nor would I at this juncture question the wisdom of the prime minister to hand over authority to Anifah Aman ― who hails from Sabah and it the younger brother to Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman, who in turn is related to Manuel Amalilio ― to decide on this crucial matter.

What is important, is for Anifah to be advised by none other than the Attorney-General that he has no right or power whatsoever to indemnify any of the armed intruders or the other members of the group against criminal culpability.

Anifah must realise that limitation. It is not like he is given a free hand to make his own decision anyway he likes, or that he is a law unto himself.

Even the PM and the A-G have no power to strike a deal with anyone facing criminal charges or being caught in a sticky political situation. This has been explained by the de facto law minister, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, in Parliament on March 30, 2011, in answer to a question on this issue.

Regardless of their status, ethnicity, ideology or purpose, the Sulu intruders have committed serious criminal acts ranging from attempting to wage or waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, besides serious violations of the Penal Code, Firearms Act, Immigration Act, etc.

I beg to differ with Home Minister Hishammuddin when he says that the Lahad Datu standoff is different from previous incidents such as those involving Al-Maunah, Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiah Malaysia.

Even a lay person knows that killing a person by strangulation, by stabbing or by blowing that person into bits using explosives, is still murder as defined in the Penal Code and the punishment is still death by hanging, when the killer is found guilty regardless of the motive of the murder or how it was done.

The difference here is only in the manner the murder was executed. The end result is the same, that a person is dead.

A standoff is still a standoff, regardless of whether it is an Al-Maunah standoff or a Lahad Datu standoff. It cannot be dealt with differently. The weapons smuggled in by the Sulu invaders are no less lethal than the weapons stolen from the 304 army camp by the Al-Maunah group.

The Al-Maunah group members were no less Muslim than the Sulu invaders, if religion is to be considered.

Since the Al-Maunah gang members who surrendered were charged with waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, resulting in some of them being hanged, so must the same charges be brought against the Sulu intruders when they surrender.

As such, Anifah must be advised that he has no powers to promise or agree with the Philippine government to deport all those intruders, whether individually armed or not, without all of them being first brought to face the full brunt of our laws.

With due respect to Anifah, it is not within his purview to decide whether an act is criminal in nature or otherwise, or whether the intruders should be charged in court or released scot-free. Neither is it Hishammuddin’s.

In the event Anifah is adamant in conceding to the Philippines’ request for a “blanket deportation” of all the armed intruders to their homeland with the concurrence of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, for any reasons whatsoever, without them going through the due process of our laws and constitution, then not only with the two have made a landmark decision arbitrarily but they will also be setting a very dangerous and vicious precedent.

That decision would effectively imply that armed invasions, incursions or any act of that sort into any part of our country, whether for temporary or permanent occupation, is no longer prohibited but, rather, most welcome.

The smuggling of any type of weapons and firearms into the country will no longer be considered as criminal.

Deporting the Sulu invaders lock, stock and barrel and exempting them from criminal prosecution is as good as surrendering our sovereignty.

Our beautiful Malaysia can then be proudly proclaimed to have been transformed into a lame duck nation.

* Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim is former chief of the Criminal Investigation Department, Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent.