The Sulus : Revisiting The Lahad Datu Incursion In 2013

 I believe the following post was never published before. I believe I drafted this in 2020. It is a recap about the Sulu incursion in Lahad Datu in 2013. Here it is :

 

Do read my CONCLUSION at the very, very end.

Suddenly this morning (in 2020) I received Whatsapp images and messages talking about the Sulu attack on Lahad Datu in Sabah in 2013. Well considering the State elections are on the 26th (September 2020) some people may be trying to gain mileage. 

But some fingerwork on the laptop located some old news reports about the whole affair.

First here is some recap (I dont agree with all of this).  I do not agree with all the news that was reported about this affair too. But it is all in the public domain :

The 2013 Lahad Datu standoff was a military conflict that started on 11 February 2013 and fully ended on 24 March 2013. The conflict began when 235 militants, some of whom were armed, arrived by boats in Lahad Datu District, Sabah, Malaysia from Simunul island, Tawi-Tawi, in the southern Philippines.

At that time (2013) I was of course very pro-government and I was often called by various parts of the government to share views on various issues.  I used to get invited to the town halls on the economy, special interest group on education, the Federal Territories Minister to talk about DBKL issues, to the 'Bukit' (less said the better) and when the Sulu incursion happened in 2013, I (plus a few others) was invited to meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs who at that time was Anifah Aman. 

The Minister wanted to hear views on how to handle the media publicity around the Sulu incursion. My advice was to kick out reporters from one particular Filipino newspaper who were running around Sempoerna and Lahad Datu taking "provocative" pictures and splashing them all over the Philippines.   (Pictures of dead bodies etc). Next day they were indeed kicked out.  

But during the meeting I also noticed that Foreign Minister Anifah Aman was cool as a cucumber over the whole matter.  And Anifah Aman was a native of Sabah. In fact the entire government was really cool over the incursion. They were not flustered like us the ordinary citizens who did not know what else was going on. Actually never at any point in time was Sabah or Malaysia under any real threat of any real 'invasion' by that rag tag bunch of Sulus. There were other things going on.

Ok here are some of the pictures that were going around WhatsApp this morning (in 2020). Do note the dates (when they are mentioned) :

The picture above shows an eminent Sulu from Philippines meeting Najib (before 2013). 

Above : Circa 2011 yet another Sulu "Sultan" quits from UMNO Sabah

After the Sulu Incursion hit the Press on Feb 13th, 2013 Reuters also reported the news (dated February 14, 2013), with some interesting observations by them :

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-philippines-idUSBRE91D0BY20130214 

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian forces surrounded 100 armed men 

breakaway rebel faction in southern Philippines

high-ranking Msian govt source told Reuters faction unhappy with recent peace deal 

Philippine govt signed landmark peace deal with Muslim rebels late 2012 

some factions have voiced opposition

• Philippine official said they were unarmed Filipinos who had been promised land
• senior Philippine military official said 'Filipinos promised land in Sabah'
• 
  
• We know that these people arrived there five days ago said the official
• 
  
• “Some of them were already residents in Sabah for a long time 
• He said a meeting over land claim had attracted large crowd and drawn the attention of Malaysian authorities
• Another Philippine military officer said the men had been invited to Sabah by a Malaysian opposition politician to discuss land issues.

“govt has chosen to negotiate so they leave peacefully” Najib Razak

was quoted by state-run Bernama news agency  

My comments :  Going by this Reuters report (published on 14th February 2013 - one day after the Sulu incursion hit the news) this was actually a meeting of the Sulu people from inside Sabah as well as from the Philippines to discuss about getting land in Sabah. That is why they landed at that plantation in Tanduo in Lahad Datu. I believe that was where the land was located.

Other reports say only about 30 of these people were carrying arms. The remainder of the 200 or 300 (including women) had come along for the ride. They were NOT an invasion force.

And this fairly sizeable number of Sulu people were already in Tanduo for FIVE days before their presence was "reported" in the Press. 

• Philippine official said they were unarmed Filipinos who had been promised land
• senior Philippine military official said 'Filipinos promised land in Sabah'
• 
  
• We know that these people arrived there five days ago said the official

Again going by the Reuters report above here is the soalan cepu mas : Takkan they came into Tanduo and had discussions for FIVE DAYS about getting land without talking to the "landowner"?  The "landowner" must have known about their presence and their discussions.  So who was the landowner?

Now here are a few more old news reports from that time. This is from Yahoo News here:

https://ph.news.yahoo.com/don-t-harm-sultan-men-nur-warns-malaysia-120339013.html

MANILA - MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari warned will aid Jamalul Kiram if blood spills

Kiram's followers our brothers. If one drop blood spilled, we will come Misuari said

Misuari said he heard the group crossed to (Sabah) because they were allegedly promised to be settled in Sabah by Prime Minister Dato Seri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Addul Razak.

Misuari also said the group gone to Sabah to show impatience over claim

Misuari said it would be good to await April election in Msia to see who is new PM 

Here is the Manila Bulletin with the same report :

And on 4th March, 2003 Harakah had also commented on the same news :

On the same day 4th March 2013 in Manila the Philippine President Benigno Aquino III spoke about the Sulu Incursion in a Press Conference where he said :

"In a press conference on March 4, Aquino said: 

• “We are aware that there are those who conspired to bring us to this situation – a situation that has no immediate solutions. 
• Some of their identities are clear to us, while others continue to skulk in the shadows. 
• The family of Sultan Jamalul Kiram could not possibly have settled on this course of action alone.”

https://thediplomat.com/2013/03/conspiracy-theories-surround-violence-ikn-sabah/

My comments :

From the pictures I received via WhatsApp above and the various news reports lets stack up some of the events in historical order :

1. Feb 22, 2011 one of the Sultan Sulu quits UMNO Sabah

2. Oct 2 - 6,  2012 Moro Peace Talks in KL.  Only the MILF is invited (Moro Islamic Liberation Front). The MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front), the Kirams, the many Sulu sultans etc are not invited.

3. Nine days later on Oct 15, 2012 the Moro Peace Agreement was signed in Manila. Again only with the MILF.

4. Less than FOUR MONTHS after that in February 2013 Sultan Jamalul Kiram III sends his "troops" to intrude into Lahad Datu, Sabah.

5.  Three months later on May 5th 2013 we had our 13th General Elections in Malaysia.

Reuters said :

• breakaway rebel faction in southern Philippines
• high-ranking Msian govt source told Reuters faction unhappy recent peace deal 
• Philippine govt signed landmark peace deal with Muslim rebels late 2012 

That breakway rebel faction can only be Nur Misuari's MNLF.  The same Nur Misuari who warned that the Jamalul Kiram group which landed in Lahad Datu were his "brothers" and on whose behalf he threatened retaliation.

So there was a chain of dissatisfaction since that Peace Accord was signed on Oct 15, 2012 until the Lahad Datu incursion just FOUR MONTHS later in February 2013.

The Jamalul Kiram group had no strategic or even tactical planning to "invade" Sabah. They wanted their share of the peace accord - namely money, land, etc. They did not get any. So they just jumped in their boats and came to Tanduo in Lahad Datu to claim the land for themselves. 

CONCLUSION

The 13th GE was held on 5th May 2013.  There are 800,000 Mindanao Moro, Sulu and other migrants from the Philippines already living in Sabah, including the Projek IC people. Like it or not they were a voting bloc that was sought after by the local politicians. And how the remainder of the 800,000 were treated had a bearing on how the Projek IC voters among them would vote. Head bone connected to the neck bone.

Many of the Mindanao Moro people (in Sabah) would have been happy because the Bangsa Moro Peace Accords were signed in Oct 2012 with Malaysia's help. So they would have voted for the BN.

But obviously the Jamalul Kiram folks (in the Philippines) were not happy because they were left out from that party.  And Nur Misuari's MNLF were also not invited to the Peace Accords. So there were two groups in the Philippines who were not happy.

Both these dissatisfied groups had their supporters and community members living in Sabah - many of whom are Projek IC voters. Of course the Malaysian politicians wanted these peoples' votes as well in the upcoming 13th General Elections (May 2013).

This is where the partially successful Manila Peace Accords in October 2012 perhaps presented an opportunity to make these two unhappy groups happier.  For example if they could be promised something in Sabah to compensate for their being left out of the Peace Accords.  Land for example.   After all, it was not tanah bapak dia. 

Folks, remember the first rule of politics. When you have to promise to give away something just make sure it does not belong to you. Always promise to give away things that belong to other people.  The British still are the world champions at doing this trick.

So why not promise to give a piece of oil palm land to the Kirams and the Moros?  

I think this is what happened. Someone made a promise of land. Just who exactly? I do not know.  (Nur Misuari said : it would be good to await April 2013 election in Msia to see who is new PM)

Then something went wrong. Maybe there was a cut off date.  Maybe the Kirams were clever and they wanted things to be wrapped up BEFORE the 13th General Elections. 

Bla bla it did not happen. The promises were broken. 

Hence the Kirams decided to go on an excursion to Tanduo in Lahad Datu.

So now the billions of Ringgit spent on Esscom, Immigration, Maritim, Army, Navy, Air Force, the east coast of Sabah locked down for years, billions of Ringgit in barter trade lost etc - all because some politicians promised some people land that was not theirs to promise in the first place.  Most likely these politicians were not even Sabahans. 

Remember the first rule of politics :  When you have to promise to give away something just make sure it does not belong to you. Always promise to give away things that belong to other people. 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.