Sulu intruders' 'graves' stir community discontent

SABAH Sometime last month, a resident of Kampung Binaong in Keningau received a text message from an unidentified person.

"It said that four of the Sulu intruders are buried here (in Keningau) but not to tell anyone. I didn't know who sent this to me, so I quickly deleted it," the woman said.

But later, it turned out that her neighbours had received the text message, too.

"It makes my heart ache. Already, 10 of our heroes have fallen because of these people and we bury them here.

"I hear it's because no one claimed the bodies and that many more are buried in other parts of Sabah," she said.

Although she knows the Muslim graveyard where the intruders were said to be buried is located, she does not want to see the graves herself.

"Who knows, maybe their family members might be watching."

Others met during Malaysiakini's visit to the Kadazandusun Murut heartland on Wednesday could also easily give directions to the alleged burial grounds.

The rumoured burial of these intruders amongst them was also a sore point for locals who attended a ceramah by Star's chief and Keningau candidate Jeffrey Kitingan in Kampung Baginda.

When Jeffrey raised the issue at a ceramah on Wednesday night, the 150 present animatedly claimed that the intruders were buried within walking distance from where they were sitting.

"They are buried near here, in Tanah Merah!" they said, referring to a burial ground in Kampung Padang Tembak.

Quoting Pakatan Rakyat ally APS' Keningau chief Paul Kadau, local daily Harian Ekspres reported that the bodies would have passed nine villages in Keningau before they could reach the Kampung Padang Tembak burial ground.

"In our custom, the government needs to pay those villages ‘sogit' so as to avoid bad luck," he was quoted as saying in an article published earlier this month.

Anger over Project IC

Quick on the uptake, Jeffrey drew a link between the dead gunmen nearby and the perennial Sabah issue of illegal immigrants.

"This means that they were part of ‘Project IC'. Am I right?" he asked, as the crowd responded in the affirmative.

Someone in the audience muttered loudly "Projek Dr M" (former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's project).

"Our country is no longer safe. Twenty years ago these men fought the Philippines government and sought refuge here, and we gave them food, water and in the end, we gave them identity cards."

Keningau is not the only place where about 60 bodies of the Sulu men, killed in the stand-off with security personnel in Lahad Datu, about 500km away from Keningau, were buried.

PKR claims that other intruders' bodies are buried in Simpangan, some 380km away from Lahad Datu.

Sabah focus blog Sabahkini, meanwhile, reported that community leader Paluyan Marutin had questioned the burial of other intruder bodies in Pitas, 359km from Lahad Datu, without consultation with locals.

There has been no official confirmation that these places - mostly majority-Kadazandusun Murut areas - are indeed the final resting place of the intruders who first landed in Sabah in February.

The concern over having the intruders, viewed by many as terrorists, buried nearby is only part of the story.

The natives of Sabah also face problems of native customary land rights, with heritage land alienated for either government development projects or sold for commercial purposes.

APS' Paul reportedly said that many fear that with the Suluks buried in their heartland, the intruders' heirs may sooner or later try to lay claim on Kadazandusun Murut land, too.

Burial was for religious reasons

State police chief Hamza Taib confirmed that the intruders were buried on Sabah soil, but refused to disclose the location or whether they were scattered around the Borneo state.

He also said that the decision to bury them was more a religious decision.

"Where they are buried is not important and people need not know. We buried them because it is fardu kifayah (duty as a Muslim community).

"We cleaned the bodies, prepared them for burial and prayed for their souls.

"We also wanted to show the Filipinos that we are kind people, and not cruel as they think. We wouldn't throw the bodies into the sea," said Hamza (right) when contacted by Malaysiakini.

While BN's Keningau candidate and incumbent Joseph Pairin Kitingan touched on the Lahad Datu incursion at a mega rally on Wednesday, he did not mention the graves.

Instead, he said the BN federal government is squarely behind Sabah over the incursion and that Sabah can be assured of security and sovereignty under the BN.

BN, which is defending all but the state seat of Sri Tanjong and parliamentary seat of Kota Kinabalu, has gone to town with this ‘Lahad Datu message'.

Its many opponents, be it Pakatan Rakyat parties or local parties SAPP and Star, are however using the same issue to say the Lahad Datu incident was a tragedy which should not have happened had the BN done its job.

The topic clearly gets top interest on either side of the divide, with mention of Lahad Datu eliciting much response.

But which side of the story are the voters buying? The answer may be buried six feet underground.