Murdering our security forces is terrorism, Tian Chua told

MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun today hit out at PKR vice-president Tian Chua for saying that self-styled Sulu princess Jacel Kiram is no terrorist but part of the Filipino government.

“If armed foreign bandits encroaching into our sovereign soil in separate locations miles apart, demanding that Sabah be seceded to an unrecognised Sulu 'sultanate'… are not considered terrorists, then we certainly do not know how else terrorism may even be categorised,” she said in a statement.

She added that Sabahans living on the east coast “lived in trepidation” during the 2013 Sulu incursion into Lahad Datu that killed 10 Malaysians, including one security personnel who was mutilated.

“Has the Kiram clan dropped its claims on Sabah? Has the Kiram clan offered any form of compensation to the families or prayers or observation of a minute’s silence to the victims of terrorism in Sabah and for that matter, even in the Philippines’ non-restive south?” she asked.

Chua yesterday said the self-proclaimed Sulu Sultanate forms the Philippine government, and is not a terrorist group.

He said this in a bid to quell controversy over a picture of Kiram and PKR vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar, which led to Nurul Izzah’s apology.

Chua was criticising BN lawmakers and Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed at the Dewan Rakyat during the winding-up debate on Budget 2016 at the committee stage.

The verbal attack came when Chua asked which group of Sulu forces from the southern Philippines planned another attack on Sabah as alleged by Nur Jazlan.

Nur Jazlan had earlier questioned why the PKR vice-president had met with Jacel, who was an "enemy of the state".

While claiming the Budget 2016 debate was not a platform for him to explain about the meeting, Chua, however, questioned Nur Jazlan on the Sulu plan to reclaim Sabah again.

"If it is alleged to be the self-proclaimed (Sulu Sultanate) group that we had met, they are part of the Philippine (government), they are not a terrorist group," he added.

"The group that is not recognised by the Philippine government is the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front), which is being assisted by Malaysia in its negotiations with the Philippines," he said. -Mkini