Just ban pump boats, no need for study, says PBS’ Ongkili

PBS president Maximus Ongkili (right, standing) speaking to participants of a workshop in Sabah’s northern Kudat district today.

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Maximus Ongkili has urged the state government to forget about studying the need for pump boats and just restore the ban on such transportation in Sabah.

Ongkili said the spate of kidnappings recently in waters off Lahad Datu in the state’s east coast was sufficient proof that the ban was needed and justified.

“This is a threat to our security. Why does the police department need to re-study the use of pump boats when they have confirmed that it was used in the recent kidnappings?

“Just ban the use of pump boats, just as was done by the previous government,” he said during an economic workshop organised by his party at Matunggong, Kudat, 130km from here, today.

The Kota Marudu MP said the previous administration enforced the ban only after getting the advice of security agencies.

“(The ban) was later approved by the Sabah security council. The lifting of the ban by the Warisan-led government has proven that it has placed the security of the state and its people at risk,” Ongkili said.

Sabah police chief Omar Mammah had yesterday said Chief Minister Shafie Apdal contacted him soon after the kidnapping of three Indonesian fishermen at the Gem Reef waters off Tambisan, Lahad Datu, at noon on Monday.

Masked gunmen had used two pump boats to approach two fishing vessels and escaped with the trio and their boat to the Tawi-Tawi chain of islands in the southern Philippines.

Omar said he had been instructed by the chief minister to re-study the use of pump boats.

Omar had, in September last year, said the use of pump boats was still being studied as the state government had allowed its use by small-scale fishermen along coastal areas but not in the open sea.

Prior to that, Shafie had announced that the state government would lift the ban on the usage of pump boats to help poor fishermen along coastal areas.

The use of pump boats was outlawed by the previous Barisan Nasional administration in April 2016 to enhance security in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) - FMT