ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 11, 2013) – Malaysian authorities have released a group of Filipino politicians and their campaigners following negotiations with Manila on Thursday.
The politicians, led by Mayor Rommel Matba, of Languyan town, were campaigning in the southern province of Tawi-Tawi when their boat strayed into Sabah and had been arrested.
Malaysian security forces are battling a rag tag army of the Sulu sultanate in Sabah, just several nautical miles from Tawi-Tawi.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib said authorities have seized guns and other weapons from the boat which was intercepted on April 8 near Lahad Datu town.
Matba is a key political ally of Tawi-Tawi Governor Sadikul Sahali and both politicians belong to the Liberal party of President Benigno Aquino III.
Matba’s group was released late on Thursday. Their boat was escorted by the Malaysian navy and police and headed back to Taganak Island off Tawi-Tawi province.
Matba’s group was heading to Taganak Island near the Sabah border when a Malaysian police patrol intercepted them about 12 nautical miles off the island of Tambisan.
The arrest came following reports that about hundreds Muslim fighters who volunteered to reinforce the embattled followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram, were sent to Sabah.
Some 200 Sulu sultanate members intruded in Lahad Datu in February to exert determination and historical rights over Sabah, but Malaysia rejected this and fighting eventually broke out between the two sides.
Malaysia said it killed over 60 followers of Sultan Jamalul and arrested more than 400 people who were suspected aiding the group. It said 10 Malaysian policemen and soldiers also died in the fighting. (Mindanao Examiner – Ely D. Umaboc)
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