by : Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan
“The insecurity felt by Malaysians in Sabah is the
greatest failure of the Federation of Malaysia and the reality is now turning
into a nightmare even for lawmakers from the Barisan Nasional”, said Datuk Dr.
Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, in response to the statement by YB. Datuk
Seri Bung Mokhtar that he fears for his life to the extent he fears that he
will be shot dead the moment he step out of Parliament House.”
The recent daily killings and violent crimeswere not
confined to the Peninsular but has also spread to Sabah and with the rising
crime rate, Malaysians are now living in fear.
Security was the key factor why Sabah was pushed
into agreeing to form Malaysia in 1963 with the alleged twin threats from the
Philippines and Indonesia and that Malaysia when formed would take care of
Sabah’s security.
The recent spate of shootings and violence in the
Peninsular has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that the federal agencies
responsible for policing and security cannot even handle daily security in the
Peninsular.
The problem is further compounded with the majority
of police personnel being roped in to undertake special branch duties and for
political purposes to monitor, spy on and harassing the opposition and
man-handle the ordinary people in the street instead of crime prevention and
criminal investigations.
The security or rather insecurity problem is doubled
in Sabah when the situation has now reached boiling point after decades of
supporting, training and arming the Muslim rebellion in the Philippines by the
Federal government with the rebellion now back to Sabah’s shores. The situation is tripled with the wanton
issuance of dubious identity cards with voting rights given to illegal
immigrants through the ‘Project IC Mahathir/Ops Durian Buruk’ to change the
demography of Sabah and to maintain the Umno/BN regime in power, both in Sabah
and at the federal level.
One wonders how the Federal government can provide
adequate security to Sabahans with the twin threats of insurgency and illegal
immigrants given ICs when they cannot even provide basic policing and internal
security in the Peninsular without the twin threats.
The time has come for the Sabah government to stop
the denial syndrome and be pro-active to ensure the security of Malaysians in
Sabah and to allay their rising fears of insecurity. The time is now ripe for Sabahans and the
Sabah government, after 50 years of continuous failure in Malaysia, to take
control of their own sovereignty, autonomy and complement security in
Sabah.
STAR Sabah reiterates its earlier call for the
establishment of the Sabah Homeland Security, Immigration and Registration
Commission as a precursor to the establishment of its Ministry, before the
security situation deteriorate further and before it’s too late.
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