ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Mr. 17, 2013) – Malaysia has detained more than 330 Filipinos in Sabah suspected of aiding or supporting a rag-tag army of the Sultanate of Sulu which is claiming historical and legal rights over the oil-rich island near the Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi.
Malaysia, which is also claiming Sabah, said the Filipinos were arrested under a strict Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 that allows the police to detain them up to two years without any charges; and one detainee, who was arrested in Semporna town, hanged himself inside a police prison.
Just recently, Malaysian security forces also intercepted a speedboat and arrested 8 Filipinos, ages 17 to 29, carrying more than P360,000 in cash.
At least 61 followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram were also killed in a massive military assault by Malaysia dubbed as “Ops Daulat” following a deadly standoff in Sabah’s Lahad Datu town where some 200 loyal army of the sultanate headed by the sultan’s younger brother Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram.
Malaysia gave the Philippines 3 days to retrieve the bodies of those killed, including 15 cadavers recovered from three shallow graves in the Lahad Datu village called Tanduo. Nine Malaysian policemen and a soldier were also killed in the clashes.
The group landed in February in Lahad Datu to exert its claim and recognition in Sabah – home to more than 800,000 Filipinos – but Kuala Lumpur and also Manila rejected talks to peacefully resolve the issue. Malaysian fighter jets, backed by artillery and ground troops, mounted a deadly assault aimed at flushing out Raja Muda Agbimuddin’s group, now scattered in several towns.
The Malaysian Armed Forces have deployed unmanned aerial vehicles to help ground troops track down Raja Muda Agbimuddin’s group, who are only armed with machetes and knives, and several rifles. Some members of the group were reported stealing vehicles and ramming it to security forces in an apparent suicide attack.
Malaysian authorities said at least 50 followers of Sultan Jamalul have survived the two-week military operations in Sabah, although some of them managed to escape back to the southern Philippines. The hostilities forced thousands of Filipinos to flee Sabah.
Kuala Lumpur last week also rejected repeated appeals by Manila to allow humanitarian teams to visit those displaced by the assault, and banned Philippine and foreign media from covering the situation in Sabah.
But Malaysia’s Defense Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the Cabinet recalled the order banning foreign news agencies and Philippines media and now allowed journalists to enter and report on the conflict zone near Lahad Datu town.
The journalists, he said, would be stationed at a designated media center in Felda Sahabat village.
Malaysia banned media coverage after accusing Filipino journalists of misreporting the situation in Sabah, particularly in issues involving human rights abuses against Filipinos as reported by those who escaped the violence; and extrajudicial killings, illegal arrest and detention; and instead provided daily briefings and photo handouts to media outfits. (Mindanao Examiner)
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