PRESS....Sultan
of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III speaks during a news conference in Alabang, Metro
Manila February 17, 2013. Kiram III said in the news conference that his
group's stand-off demands are the recognition of the Sultan of Sulu and Sabah
as the rightful owner of the land, and a renegotiation of the original terms of
its lease with a British trading company. He also said a letter will be sent to
the Malaysian government to start negotiations to end the stand-off.
By : LIM KIT SIANG
PARLIAMENT and Sabah State
Assembly should meet in urgent sessions if Home Minister Hishammuddin is
incapable of protecting the sovereignty of Sabah and Malaysia and the rights
and safety of Sabahans.
Parliament and the Sabah
State Assembly should meet in urgent sessions if the Home Minister, Datuk Seri
Hishammuddin Hussein, is incapable of protecting the sovereignty of Sabah and
Malaysia and the rights and safety of Sabahans.
Malaysiakini has quoted the
Sunday report of Philippine Daily Inquirer
today that despite the Malaysian
authorities declaring an end to negotiations with more than 100 armed Filipinos
who landed in Sabah early this week and saying they will be deported, the
group's leader insists that they will stay put.
Jamalul Kiram III, who
claims to be ruler of the now defunct Sulu Sultanate, told the Philippine Daily
Inquirer that he authorised the 'incursion' and that his men would remain in
Lahad Datu as long as needed.
Jamalul said the group, led
by his younger brother crown prince Agbimuddin Kiram, would remain in Sabah for
"as long as necessary" in their bid to reclaim the state, which was
formerly a territory of the Sulu Sultanate.
"I sent my brother to
Sabah in the name of peace and in the exercise of our historic, ancestral and
sovereign right over Sabah," Jamalul, who is in Manila, is quoted as
saying by the Philippine national daily.
"It is upon us, the
leaders of Sulu, to claim back what is ours," he added
The Philippine Daily
Inquirer also quoted Agbimuddin as saying that his group, holed up in a village
in Lahad Datu, is equipped with an assortment of weapons, including M-14, M-16,
M203, Baby Armalite and no one could make them leave unless his elder broher
Jamalul decreed that they do so.
Agbimuddin added that more
men, supporters of the Sulu Sultanate, were expected to join them in Sabah
soon.
This report in the
Philippine Daily Inquirer has made nonsense of the statements by the Bukit Aman
Internal Security and Public Order director Datuk Salleh Mat Rasid and the
Sabah Police Chief Commisioner Datuk Hamza Taib that negotiations were over
with the more than 100 Filipino gunmen holed up at the seaside village of
Tanduo in Lahad Datu and that the Malaysian authorities were ready to deport
the armed group back to southern Philippines.
It has also put the Home
Minister in a very bad light as the patience and confidence of Sabahans and
Malaysians in Hishamuddin’s ability to resolve the stand-off at Lahat Datu
speedily and in a peaceful manner have run very thin, especially as the Home
Minister seems more interested and pre-occupied in playing political games in
the run-up to the 13th general elections than fully focussed on security issues
affecting the people and the nation, like:
Trying to give credence to
the 'tall tale' that the lives of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the
Korean K-pop superstar Psy were threatened during the Barisan Nasional Chinese
New Year bash in Penang on Monday, when there is no iota of evidence or ounce
of truth;
Defending the outrageous
detention and deportation of Australian Senator Nick Xenophon for taking up the
cause of fair and clean elections in Malaysia and attracting world-wide
condemnation; and
Disseminating lies about the DAP not having submitted party
election returns to the Registrar of Societies when this had been done before the
Chinese New Year, raising questions whether he is preparing the grounds for the UMNO/BN
government to declare DAP as an illegal and unlawful political party.
If Hishammuddin is incapable
of single-mindedly focussing on resolving the stand-off with the armed Filipino
group in Lahad Datu in a speedy and peaceful manner, he should let others who
are capable of giving proper priority to national security issues as distinct
from concocting politically-inspired controversies to do the job.
It will be most unfortunate
if Hishammuddin is associated in the minds of Malaysians, particularly
Sabahans, with the saying: "Nero fiddled while Rome burned".
No comments:
Post a Comment