Lahad Datu – upshot of a dubious policy

Desperate situations call for desperate measures. What does one do when one is cornered and could lose power?

KOTA KINABALU: As tensions escalate in Sabah over the attack by Filipino intruders in the east coast and the death toll climbing to 26, the prospect of it sparking off unrest statewide is growing.

As many are pointing out, there is more to this crisis than meets the eye. It is something that has been simmering for years, waiting for the right conditions that would ignite it.

All that has transpired up to now points to a well-organised takeover of the seaside village of Kampung Tanduo by an armed group numbering some 200-300, something that locals had been predicting could happen anytime.

About half the population of the resource-rich state which is around three million is acknowledged to be made of “new Malaysians”, all mostly Muslims and convenient converts with names that sometimes unmask them as simply jobless immigrants cashing in on the policy of predominantly Muslim Malaysia which has opened its doors to Muslim immigrants, especially in the once Christian majority state of Sabah.

A clearer picture is also emerging of the nature of this armed group that has held Malaysian security forces at bay for three weeks now.

There are thousands of them in the Southern Philippines and all they know is war. In fact, Malaysia even helped train some of them here back in the 1970s.

Malaysian Army General Zulkifli Mat Zain gave an indication of what has prevented the police and his men from marching into the village and disarming the group.

The armed men, the general told the media, are combat experienced and were adept at insurgency tactics.

“From our intelligence and observation, they have combat experience and their insurgency guerrilla tactics are quite good, I would say,” he said on Saturday, as the standoff at the village entered its fourth week.

The group has positioned snipers in one area with a large public space and Malaysian security forces “know we are not able to go in without casualties because of the open area,” the general said.

That’s as good a description as one can get of a group of mercenaries and hired guns at work and not the simple group of elderly farmers who just wanted to settle in Sabah.

Desperate situation

The group that planned, funded and staged this outrageous invasion, however, remains shadowy with claims of intrigue and power play in Filipino politics as well as in Malaysia.

This applies to the Southern Philippines as well as in Malaysia where the general election is to be held anytime. Both the Barisan Nasional government led by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and a re-energised opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat led by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim are planning to send each other packing in the fight to govern the country.

Desperate situations call for desperate measures. What does one do when one is cornered and could lose power?

The frontman in the current crisis in Sabah is Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III who claims the invading group are members of his Royal Army of Sulu and are led by his brother Azimmudie Kiram.

Names bandied about as linked to the ongoing crisis are Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari along with some Philippines political aspirants linked to Jamalul.

All are said to be dissatisfied with last October’s Malaysian-brokered peace deal between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to end the decades-long civil war in the Southern Philippines. The peace deal would make the former irrelevant, analysts note.

Others have said that the invasion was also the result of land grabs within the massive oil palm plantations managed by Felda (Federal Land Development Authority).

It seems everyone is eager for a piece of the lucrative palm oil pie which was apportioned out as an entitlement to the destitute and landless in the state. It is no secret that many owning land there are not in that bracket.

A series of puzzling missteps by Malaysian authorities, who initially downplayed the incident, was rudely exposed when the “farmers” opened fired and even lobbed a mortar shell at Malaysian security forces in Lahad Datu while their counterparts lured a group of policemen into a trap in Semporna resulting in several deaths.

Misguided strategies

Malaysian authorities had first claimed that the intruders were not dangerous, non-militant and merely misguided elderly farmers hoping to live in Sabah and “negotiations” were opened with them.

The “farmers” and their sultan were adamant about Sabah being their homeland.

There was a flurry of affable-sounding “negotiations” and demands. Nothing happened.

The “farmers” apparently dug in and fortified their compound. Last Friday morning, a gunfight broke out ending all pretence of them being a harmless group.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad explained on Sunday that the government had not taken action initially as the intruders were fellow Muslim brothers and they were eligible for some leeway.

Tragically, the policemen and soldiers at the frontline of this unexpected war with Filipino militants and locals, who feel they owe their allegiance to the Sulu sultan rather than Malaysia, have paid with their lives due to misguided strategies and outright underhand electioneering tactics.

Twenty-three days into the siege at the simple seaside village with its huddle of simple dwellings and mosque, the menace of a dubious policy that was set in motion years ago by amateur politicians and their incompetent policy-makers is beginning to be felt.