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Friday, August 23, 2013

Sabah drug menace rears its head

Local as well as foreign investors in oil palm plantations and businesses have long complained that many of the foreign labourers they hire are drug addicts.
LAHAD DATU: The killing of a young boy by his father has put the spotlight on another fallout of the massive influx of poor illegal immigrants into Sabah – the steady inflow of narcotics into the state as well as increasing drug abuse.
It turns out that now that there are more evidence that various schemes by senior civil servants and their masters to re-engineer the state’s population for political reasons have turned out to be a two-edged sword.
A potent mix of poverty and drugs is helping turn the once quiet plantation towns of Sabah’s east coast into no-go areas and causing jitters among locals and the business community in the state.
It’s a difficult problem and it has landed on the lap of new Lahad Datu assemblyman, Mohamad Yusof Apdal. It’s been barely four months since he was elected.
On one end, his hands are tied due to political sensitivities over the role illegal immigrants played in helping maintain the Barisan Nasional government in power. On the other, ignoring the problem will not make it go away.
Murders, kidnappings and an armed invasion have all helped place the east coast of the state, an economic powerhouse due to its vast oil palm plantations, on the map.
Until 35-year-old Salimar Hamad, an illegal immigrant without any documents and working at a construction site in Sandakan, violently burst into Sabah’s collective conscience last week, the drug problem in the state seemed like it was on the back-burner.
Salimar, who was allegedly high on drugs and is now being investigated for slitting his son’s throat and allegedly attempting to drink his blood, has now lifted the problem to among those at the top of the heap of the state’s must-tackle woes.
Making the call during his Hari Raya open house held at Sri Perdana community hall here over the weekend, Yusof said it was vital for the authorities to address the problem and to prevent the shocking incident in Kampong Ipil, a known drug infested area, from recurring.
He wants security forces to step up their enforcement and preventive measures to tackle the drug menace in the district.
He is particularly worried about the easy entry of syabu (amphetamines) into the district.
Gory incident
Yusof said the shocking nature of the killing had also raised suspicions that the suspect was practicing black magic – a troubling phenomenon on its own but more so when paired with drugs – which is prevalent especially among the poor, uneducated immigrants massed in squatter areas.
Expressing his regret that such a gory incident had happened in his constituency, he has promised to follow up with the district police chief on ways to combat the rampant drug problem.
“We need to address the drug menace in the district, particularly syabu, as the drug can further destroy our youths’ future and disable the harmony of our society,” he said.
While he expects a long fight to curb the illicit flow of drugs into the state through the east coast he is one of those who believe that where there is a will there is a way.
“Well to achieve 100% is of course not to say impossible but might not be possible … but definitely reduce.
“We (the government) will try our best to use every method to achieve this (zero drug nation by 2015) and if we can achieve 100% that is better but definitely it will be reduced,” he said.
Yusof should have plenty of high-powered support. His brother, Shafie, the Semporna MP and federal Rural and Regional Development minister, is an Umno vice-president.
And Shafie should be able to get top government and Umno officials in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya to lend a hand.
However, despite Yusof’s assurances that he will act, locals here remain sceptical.
They have cause to be cynical.
Lawlessness scaring investors
What they now see is a flurry of activity, wringing of hands, promises and then, given time, it’s business as usual.
Local as well as foreign investors in oil palm plantations and business have long complained that many of the foreign labourers they hire are drug addicts, and thefts and burglary cases in plantations have been blamed on addicts who need money to support their habit.
The warnings were there but nothing came of them.
What they perceive as lawlessness is scaring current and would-be investors.
Lahad Datu and her sub-district Tungku have long been the landing point for smugglers due to its proximity to the southern Philippines.
Squatter colonies and water villages here are known to be infested with drugs. Even today places like Kampung Puyut, Kampong Desa Bajau and Kampong Sabah Baru in Tenggah Nippah have a reputation as dangerous spots being the worst affected areas.
While BN politicians hail their hold on the state, Sabahans as a whole are asking if they are safe in a land that once was theirs.

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