More intruders arriving in pump boats

The latest group of intruders who landed in Tanjung Labian arrived in civilian clothes and 'grouped up and put on their military fatigues', said Armed Forces chief Jeneral Zulkefli Mohd Zin.

SEMPORNA: More flash points have opened up on the east coast of Sabah. Reports have trickled in that Malaysian security forces are chasing multiple groups of invaders who have landed in support of their compatriots in Kampung Tanduo, about 160km from here.

Armed Forces chief Jeneral Zulkifeli Mohd Zin said the intruders came in small boats over the last few days from the Southern Philippine island of Sibutu, just a 25-minute boat ride from Semporna where six policemen were killed in an ambush in Kampung Sri Jaya.

In an indication that the Malaysian-Philippine maritime border remains porous, he said the hopping distance between the two areas permitted such clandestine groups to infiltrate Sabah at will without detection.

Zulkifeli described the intruders as criminals but at the same time seemed to indicate that they were more than just that when he described how the intruders had taken pains to disguise themselves.

“I believe they came in civilian clothes and, upon entering Sabah, they grouped up and put on their military fatigues.

“We found two bags with civilian clothes,” he said, adding that investigators did not know when they entered the state.

The army and police are said to be mapping out a strategy to take back the seaside village of Kampung Tanduo from a group of armed men led by Agbimuddin Kiram, the younger brother of Jamalul Kiram III, the man widely acknowledged to be the sultan of Sulu who says Sabah belongs to his family.

Sightings of intruders in Kunak were confirmed when three armed men dressed in military fatigues similar to that worn by the Sulu group at Kampung Tanduo were arrested.

With fears that the residents are panicking, the authorities have sent two more army battalions to Semporna and Kunak to assure them the people they are in control of the situation.

There have also been unconfirmed reports that a group of up to 50 men have landed at Tanjung Labian and Tanjung Batu Felda Sahabat, all near Kampung Tanduo and that hostages have been taken.

‘Don’t harm them’

Meanwhile, the Philippines media has reported that Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari has ramped up the rhetoric by warning Malaysia to settle the Sabah standoff peacefully or his group would come to the aid of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III’s followers “if blood is spilt”.

“I hope they will not harm them. They are our brothers. If one drop of their blood is spilled, we might be forced to come to their aid,” Misuari said.

“Please don’t touch them, give them a friendly and brotherly treatment,” Misuari appealed after chairing an MNLF leadership meeting in Zamboanga City, which he said was attended by some 2,000 leaders from across Mindanao to discuss various issues facing the Bangsamoro people.

Misuari, who has offered to mediate to end the standoff, has also claimed that he only heard news that a group of men had crossed over into Sabah when he was in Jolo, Sulu, over the week.

He said that he was told that they had only gone over because they had been told they would be allowed to settle in Sabah.

Azman Habu