MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 13, 2013) – Human rights group Karapatan deplored the reported wave of arbitrary arrests, detention, and killings, and other forms of cruel and degrading treatment of Filipinos in North Borneo, as Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak refused to stop military operations despite the call for a cease-fire by Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III.
Sultan Jamalul has sent his brother Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram to lead about 200 followers to North Borneo last month to peacefully exert historical and legal rights over the oil-rich island now called Sabah which is also being claimed by Malaysia.
Kuala Lumpur rejected the Sultanate’s assertion and attacked Raja Muda’s group in an effort to flush them out of the island, home to about 800,000 Filipinos.
Cristina Palabay, Secretary-General of Karapatan, told the Mindanao Examiner that: “Whether they are civilians or supporters of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, the reported acts of the state security forces of the Malaysian government show its total disregard for life and other fundamental human rights. It is not just a matter of ‘grave concern,’ but an issue that should be dealt with decisively by the Aquino government.”
According to reports, more than 60 Filipinos have been killed by Malaysian forces, while scores were said to have been rounded up in detention and hundreds forcibly evacuated, including women and children.
Foreign correspondents report that Malaysia’s Security Offenses Special Measures Act is used as basis to detain and investigate people in areas populated by mainly Filipinos “for committing terrorist acts.”
Palabay said the “refusal of Prime Minister Razak to call for a ceasefire, after the Sultanate of Sulu heeded the call of the United Nations, is an indication of their hostile and inhumane stance on the Sabah crisis.
“The Aquino government has done nothing for the peaceful resolution of the crisis. President Aquino has, in fact, aggravated it by mounting threats against the Sulu Sultan Kiram. For this, Aquino should be held accountable for the reported grave human rights violations inflicted by the Malaysian state forces on the Filipinos in Sabah.”
“Aquino’s complete surrender of our sovereignty claim to Sabah, his abandonment of responsibility to protect his Moro constituents, and his apathy to the Moro people’s struggle for self-determination led to these violations; committed freely and brazenly on the Filipinos in Sabah,” Palabay told the Mindanao Examiner.
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