Lahad Datu: New twist, new threat

Already hit by various scandals, the BN government cannot afford to drag its feet on resolving this crisis.

COMMENT

The long impasse in the Lahad Datu standoff has left a sour note in the minds of Malaysians.

Impatience at the inability of the Malaysian authorities to resolve the crisis has generated a big hue and cry with many Malaysians terming it as simply outrageous.

How did a posse of armed militants numbering over 200 managed to slip into the country undetected to lay siege on sovereign Malaysian soil?

Why is it taking so long for the authorities to resolve this tense crisis allowing it to fester for nearly three weeks?

There is no end to the speculation and rumours surrounding the highly controversial issue.

Rumour has it that PKR’s Anwar Ibrahim is working in cahoots with MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) head Nur Misuari to create chaos in Sabah, and to entice Sabahans to vote PKR out of fear, while others feel that it may be a devious plot engineered as an election ploy by the BN government.

Somehow, many people believe that there is something larger going on rather than a simple standoff by a small group of renegades.

Many are adamant that the controversy smells rather fishy and rotten to the core, especially when the general election is just around the corner.

Damaging to the government

The Lahad Datu standoff is testing the patience of Malaysians, and it is dealing a great blow to the credibility and pride of the Barisan Nasional government.

Already hit by various scandals, the BN government cannot afford to drag its feet on resolving this crisis.

Would Malaysia stand idly by, if armed Malaysians were to encroach on Singapore or Thai territory with the intention of reclaiming its territory?

That is a simple act of war and terrorism, which must be swiftly dealt with before the respective countries evict the intruders with punitive force.

Are our borders that porous that armed foreigners can creep in and out with such impunity?

Weren’t the Scorpene submarines commissioned to patrol Sabah’s waters due to its inability to operate on the shallow Straits of Malacca? How did we manage to let our guards down?

Is our military really in charge or are we prepared for the risk of a possible invasion? These are some of the pertinent questions bothering Malaysians today.

It is also scaring Sabahans from coming out to vote for fear of reprisals, while many Sabahans feel that they are living in a tense, siege-like and an artificial Emergency situation.

How can the Philippines stand idly by, helpless to allow its citizens to invade and encroach on the territories of other countries, without taking positive action to end the incursion?

Has our government refused to allow foreign military intervention to capture and deport these renegade citizens?

To date, the Philippine government has sent a humanitarian ship to fetch the women and other civilians who had joined the armed contingent in its incursion into Sabah.

A new twist

The 180-man contingent which includes five women and male civilians has established a sort of beachhead in a little village called Tanduau since Feb 9, with the purpose of dramatising a symbolic foothold on Sabah

Ignoring President Benigno Aquino’s advice to stand down, the Sulu sultan has reiterated that his followers will stay put in Sabah.

“I have already given my orders to them. And they have to stay put in that area,” Kiram said in a muffled voice.

He said his men would not go back home until a written agreement is reached on his territorial claim and signed by the parties concerned.

Issuing a livid message to Sabahans, he said: “We did not come here to die, but we come here to live with them, to stay with them, to love each other and enjoy the income of Sabah together.”

“We come here… not to make war against them especially since we belong to the same religion.”

The MNLF threat

Now with the expiry of all extensions, it has taken a new twist with the MNLF indicating that it will send reinforcements if hostilities break out between the Filipino followers of the Sulu sultan and Malaysian authorities.

MNLF special branch service chief Khaber Sampang also said that full-blown hostilities would erupt if Malaysians manhandle the heirs or followers of the sultanate of Sulu.

“War is not far away,” said MNLF peace panel member Cesar Absalom, referring to the threat of Malaysia to forcibly evict the royal sultanate army in Sabah.

The irony of it is that Malaysia purportedly once funded the MNLF in the 1970s to create a rebellion in the Southern Philippines.

High-powered arms from Libya were shipped to Malaysia before being handed over to the MNLF.

On another note, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that “if MNLF guerrillas crosses over to Sabah, they will be harboured by fellow Tausogs who live in Sabah state. A third of the population in Sabah, according to a rough unofficial estimate, is Tausog”.

Unless this crisis is resolved in a peaceful manner, this new threat can turn rather ugly indeed for the country.

The Philippine government also fears that the Sulu sultan’s defiance could result in a Malaysian government crackdown against undocumented Filipinos residing in Sabah, which is estimated at 800,000 and their fates hang in the balance at the outcome of this crisis.

“The immediate concern of the government should be the welfare of Filipinos who were born and raised in Sabah, which is the bigger humanitarian issue that must be addressed through diplomatic channels,” according to Filipino leaders.

Meanwhile, the Philippine media are having a field day covering the crisis, with one reporting that the standoff has resulted in the sultanate of Sulu succeeding in what its leaders had set out to do, which was to draw world attention to its proprietary claim over Sabah.

Another Philippine news media has reported that “the MNLF has alerted all its fighters in Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi as tension mounted between the 235 followers of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and Malaysian security forces in Lahad Datu, Sabah”.

If any of the reports by the Filipino media can be substantiated, then it is a cause for concern.

A peaceful solution

In view of the tense situation, it would be prudent for the government to resolve this crisis in a peaceful manner or risk repercussions that Sabah state may become a war zone, embroiled in a ludicrous war with a bunch of trigger-happy, hide-and-seek foreign militants.
There is a constant debate, with many sanctioning the use of force which may backfire on the country if tensions continue to simmer.

It would also jettison us into the international spotlight if cross-border tensions were to escalate. It would also be a gross embarrassment for both the Malaysian and Filipino governments.

The window of opportunity for Malaysia to take forcible, affirmative action against the invaders is past, as recent new developments have given rise to a sticky situation that needs to be handled delicately.

Tour consultant, sports pilot and naturalist Iskandar Dzulkarnain has been writing a few years now. He is a FMT columnist.