Sabah cops geared for ‘intense’ polls

Bogus "officers" claiming to have been commissioned by the Prime Minister’s Department to scout for potential election candidates.

KEPAYAN: Sabah police are expecting th 13th general election to be “quite intense”. Bearing in mind the heightened tensions here, state police commissioner Hamza Taib said the police were aware of the groups “deliberately causing trouble”.

“I have faced many elections in my time as a police officer and I can see that this 13th general election will be quite intense.

“News is now easily accessible and spread to people. We can already see that there are several individuals or parties deliberately causing trouble in anticipation of the election dates,” he told reporters here after attending the state police monthly assembly.

Hamza however added that the police were not anticipating any major disturbances.

“We are not forecasting any major problems or disturbance during the elections but in the event that they do happen, we are ready,” he said.

He said Sabah police were fully prepared to hit the ground the moment the government announces the date for the 13th general election.

The currently parliamentary term ends in April 2013.

Hamza said the all district police chiefs have been reminded to be prepared, especially with human resources.

“I have asked them to keep updated with the latest news, be prepared with infrastructure and logistics and every other aspect of security, “he said adding that in terms of manpower Sabah will have 10,000 officers and personnel on the ground including those from the Air Police, Marine Police, General Operation Force (GOF) and Police Volunteer Reserve (PVR).

Bogus “officers” from PMD

In a related issue, Sabah police have issued a warning to the public to be wary of individuals posing as “Special Task Force Officers”.

According to Hamza, these bogus “officers” are claiming to have been commissioned by the Prime Minister’s Department to scout for potential election candidates.

“We believe that such cases have occurred in other parts of the country and now we have received an official report in Sabah,” he said.

He said the case came to light when a 52-year-old businessman lodged a report on Oct 18.

“The victim smelt something fishy and immediately lodged a police report. The police are currently investigating the case under Section 420/511 of the Penal Code for cheating and attempted cheating.

“We would like to remind the public that there is no such task force commissioned by the prime minister to scout for potential candidates. So do not be cheated by them,” he said adding that the bogus “officers” were targeting specific wealthy and politically influential individuals.