Kg Tanduo villagers in limbo after Sulu incursion

As Ben Hamid, 48, stares into the calm sea from his fly-infested makeshift tent, he wonders what has happened to his house in Kampung Tanduo, Sabah.

On the night of Feb 11, Ben, like many other fishermen in the village, had gone to bed after a hard day's work.

But as the village woke up the next day, they found unwelcome guests loitering outside their houses.

"Some were in military fatigues, some not. I saw them carrying M16s and some had parangs, they probably came from the sea" he said.

He said fellow-villagers had sighted some of them entering the village at 2am.

By morning, some 50 intruders were already in the village though their leader had yet to arrive.

"They were just sitting around near our houses and talking to one another," he said.

The intruders who would later come to be known as the Royal Sulu Army, had attempted to convince the local villagers that they meant no harm.

"They said they were here to reclaim their rights and the rights of their sultan," said Ben.

Spooked by the sudden 'friendly invasion', villagers began to panic and by 9am, most of them decided to leave the village.

"They (the Sulus) asked why we were running away, that they just wanted to be friends. But when we looked at them, we just had a bad feeling and wanted to get away," he said.

Thus began a mass exodus as those with vehicles zoomed out of the village, while the rest left on foot for neighbouring village, Tanjung Labian, some 5km away.

The original inhabitants of Kampung Tanduo are largely of Bajau descent and their kinsmen are spread out around neighbouring villages.

At Tanjung Labian, the villagers-turned-refugees put up at houses of their relatives, Others were left to construct makeshift shacks.

Among them was Ben who fled with his wife and 12 children, aged between one and 24 years in age.

"This is all we have now, it took me five days to put this together" he said of the wooden platform with a worn-out canvas as roof where his family stays. Hundred of flies crawl about.

While thankful for the generosity of locals, life is difficult. Two of his children are ill with diarrhoea.

‘We have nothing’
Fisherman Amir Salleh, 51, who also fled from Kampung Tanduo, lives in a shack next door.

While acknowledging that the intruders had not entered houses in the village, Amir said he still feared them and decided to leave.

"We all fled here with only the clothes on our back. We have nothing else," he said.

Now that the village has been abandoned to the Sulus, Amir said he is worried.

"All our property, such as goats and chickens, we don't know what has happened - even our boats, we don't know ...," he said.

Even if he had a boat now, Amir said, he could not possibly go out to sea to fish as the police have imposed a ban for so long as the stand-off continues at the village.

Today is the 25th day Amir and his eight children are living as displaced people in Tanjung Labian.

"We just hope that it will end soon, so that we can go back," he said.

Amir said the people here know very little of what is going on and can only rely on news reports and rumours as Kampung Tanduo is now off-limits.

Asked if he is concerned that more Sulu boats will appear on the horizon to invade Tanjung Labian, as they they did in Kampung Tanduo, Amir expressed full confidence in the security forces that have descended on the area.

"There are police patrolling the area all the time now, we are safe so there is nothing to be worried about," he said.

The presence of security forces appear to have also reassured Tanjung Labian villagers.

"Initially when we found out about the invasion in Kampung Tanduo and also when the shootout happened, we were ready to pack our bags and leave too,” said local mechanic Arif Abdul Majid as he fixed a car.

"But then the police came and told us to stay calm and assured our security, so we have decided to stay on."