Kidnapped in Nov, photo in Mar, it is now July: Chong cousins case shows our POOR SECURITY

KUALA LUMPUR - News that two Malaysian cousins kidnapped by Filipino gunmen may still be alive has revived memories of the Sulu intrusion in Lahad Datu earlier this year.

"It is good news for their families and we pray for their well-being. But the case again shows how weak is our security in East Malaysia where the borders are so porous that foreign thugs can enter at will and whisk away our citizens for ransom," PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.

"It is time for Prime Minister Najib Razak's government do more than just put our fires. There must be a better and more cohesive plan to protect our citizens in Sabah and Sarawak. Even in the peninsula, the recent spate of assassinations is a confirmation that the government has lost the battle against crime."

Jui Meng was asked for his comment on a The Star news report, showing a photograph of Chong Wei Fei, a 33-year-old plantation manager, and Chong Wei Jie, a 25-year-old assistant manager.

Bold kidnap

In a daring and well-planned kidnap mission on Nov 13 last year, some 3 months before Sulu intrusion in Feb, 5 men in military fatigues and armed with two M-16 rifles had abducted up Wei Fei and Wei Jie.

According to The Star, the kidnappers may have agreed to a certain amount as ransom but negotiations were abandoned when Malaysian troops launched the massive Ops Daulat to flush out the Sulu armed group from Lahad Datu and its surrounding areas.

The Chong cousins had been with their bosses and workers inspecting a bird's nest farmhouse at an oil palm plantation near Kampung Manakayan.

All were asked to hand over their mobile phones and valuables and ordered to leave the area while the gunmen marched the Chongs and two others, including a worker, for about 2km to the sea shore where a 10m boat waited.

The gunmen decided to take Wei Fei and Wei Jie with them and before speeding off to the Celebes sea, reportedly told the two others "ada wang no problem" (if you have money, there should not be any problem), for the release of the victims.

Sabah Police Commissioner Hamza Taib recently said that police knew both abductees were alive and wanted to re-establish contact that was disrupted in the wake of the Sulu armed group intrusion into Kampung Tanduo in Felda Sabah 17 in February.

Saying that it was vital to re-establish communications with the abductors, he said they were waiting for them to make some kind of a demand soon.

March 7 photo but it is July now

The latest photo of the Chong cousins was sent by email to The Star on Thursday. In the photograph, the two Chongs are seeing holding up a sign stating "March 7, 2013" while the kidnappers have their guns trained on them.

According to the newspaper, sources negotiating for the release of the two cousins have confirmed that the photograph is that of the two hostages.

According to the source, the hostages have been regularly moved from one hideout to another in Jolo island, southern Philippines since their abduction from a oil palm plantation, off Lahad Datu in the east coast of Sabah, more than eight months ago.

"The two hostages are asking why nobody has come to help release them. They are suffering from diabetes and hypertension," said a source in southern Philippines.

Malaysia Chronicle