TAWAU: The latest abduction has thrown up a vital question as to why an alert issued by Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) director general Mohammed Mentek was not taken seriously.
Two weeks ago Mentek warned that kidnappers from the southern Philippines were expected to carry out another abduction in Sabah within the next two to three months.
He said that southern Philippines had 14 armed abduction groups of which seven were active and were planning large scale abductions on Sabah waters as it had become a lucrative business to do so.
He said sleeper cells within Sabah borders with “family ties” made surveillance difficult.
Mentek said this was based on “reliable intelligence” received by Esscom.
Yesterday just over a month after a Chinese national and a Filipino resort staff were kidnapped in Semporna, another abduction took place.
Five armed and masked men speaking in the Bajau dialect abducted a Chinese national who was a manager in a cage fish breeding company on Pulau Balik off Lahad Datu.
The latest abduction drew an immediate reaction from Chief Minister Musa Aman who expressed alarm, saying “drastic measures” would be taken to protect Sabah waters.
But Chan pointed out the overall lack of a sense of urgency involving security in Sabah water.
“The latest kidnapping incident has proven Mentek’s statement over attempted intrusions into Sabah by armed group from the southern Philippines, to be true.
“But why was Mentek’s warning not taken seriously? He alerted all parties concerned over the dangers of such trans-border criminal activities,” he said.
Threat from within
Chan said last week Mentek had said that the bane to Sabah security were “ insiders” who “relayed information on position of security forces” to southern Philippines gunmen.
“Thanks to the “Project M” which flooded Sabah with tremendous number of illegal immigrants, Sabah is being threatened from within.
“In Sabah, illegal immigrants are no longer a time bomb but a real threat,” said Chan, alluding to the infamous project allegedly engineered by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammed to preserve the status quo of the Umno-led Barisan Nasional in Sabah via its citizenship-for-votes agenda. The 1990s agenda saw thousands of Filipinos from neighbouring strive stricken Mindanao seeking safety in Sabah.
Yesterday, Mentek said that national “intelligence” unit needed to be strengthened if Sabah is to secure itself.
“Intelligence gathering is the key to Malaysia countering security breach including abductions from Philippines,” he said..
Chan meanwhile warned that if the issue is continuously neglected by the government, the security of Sabah will always be at stake.
He said Sabah required a proper and effective homeland security looking after its territorial waters and internal security and not remote-controlled by Putrajaya.
He said Esscom, despite the millions of ringgit spent, was in effect a “toothless tiger” and it is now vital that the entity is restructured.
“The Esscom is not equivalent to a military nor policing type of command, they are acting as a coordinator, not a commander for security.
“The issue facing the security within the Esszone (under Esscom) mainly involves internal security, Sabah police must be entrusted to protect the people, “ he said.