HIDDEN....
A MNLF leader claims that their forces have a huge arsenal hidden in Sabah's
rugged terrain.
MANILA : Malaysian security
forces are now facing battle-tested, Malaysian-trained commanders of the Moro
National Liberation Front (MNLF), who know Sabah like the palm of their hands.
Hadji Acmad Bayam, Former
Chief Propagandist of the MNLF, revealed this yesterday to the Manila Bulletin,
adding that these MNLF forces may have at their disposal a huge arsenal, which
they hid deep in Sabah’s rugged terrain when they returned to the Philippines
after their rigid training.
Among the firearms are
Belgian-made G1 and FAL, which the late Libya leader Colonel Moammar Gadaffi
supplied through Malaysia.
Bayam said he was confident
the Malaysian authorities were not able to find the hidden MNLF firearms
because they were kept very well by the MNLF commanders who stayed behind in
Sabah.
During that training,
Malaysian military trainers even joked about the firearms at the MNLF training
camp on Jampiras Island, off Sabah, as they turned over Gadaffi’s weapons’
supply.
“We are not even sure if the
firearms we are giving you will not be turned against,” the Malaysian trainers
had said in a jest.
“Well, speaking of
self-fulfilling prophecy,” Bayam said, recalling the jokes of the Malaysian
trainers.
Now, Filipinos in Sabah, who
are not part of the forces of the Sultanate of Sulu, have already joined the
fighting in reaction to what they perceived as Malaysian 'atrocities' for
killing Imam Maas and his four sons at 7:50 p.m. Saturday.
He recalled that Malaysia’s
leadership had even suspected the then chief minister of Sabah, Tun Mustapha, a
Tausug from Sulu, of 'conspiring' with MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari to secede the
oil-rich island.
“You know, if Mindanao is to
Manila, Sabah is to Kuala Lumpur,” said Bayam, explaining that Mindanao and
Sabah are the “milking cows” of the Philippines and Malaysia, respectively, for
their rich natural resources.
Bayam, who yielded to then
President Fidel V. Ramos, stayed in Sabah, Malaysia, for nine years before the
peace talks with the Ramos administration in 1993.
Bayam stayed in Sabah
on-and-off, in 1976-79, in 1980-1986, among other dates.
Breaching the blockades
Further, he said many of the
seasoned rebel commanders and rank-and-file members chose to remain on Sabah
island to live there.
Majority of them are from
Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga Peninsula, but there are also Maguindanaons,
Iranons, and probably Maranaos, he said.
A few days ago, he said one
of the MNLF foreign-trained commanders belonging to the Top 90 Batch, told him
that he was enlisting Tausug warriors and others for reinforcement to the Royal
Security Force (RSF) of the Sultanate of Sulu.
“I was trying to contact him
yesterday but his phone cannot be reached anymore. I guess he was able to
penetrate the Malaysian and Philippine sea-borne blockades in their respective
borders.
Bayam described the
commander “as soft-spoken but firm and true leader-fighter in actual shooting
war.” However, he requested that the commander’s name be not made public.
Last Sunday, Abraham J Idjirani,
spokesman of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, said 40 people from Basilan, Sulu,
Tawi-Tawi, and Zamboanga Peninsula breached the blockades and reached Lahad
Datu, Sabah, scene of the standoff that erupted into a firefight.
He said there are many
others who are now trying to go to Sabah and help the sultan’s followers led by
Rajah Muda Agbimuddin Kiram.
Bayam said that with the way
the situation in Sabah is going on, he sees no turning back. (Agencies)
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