KOTA MARUDU - Nervous villagers around the state, especially in the interior, have activated their village security committees following the prolonged confrontation between Malaysian security forces and Filipino intruders occupying a seaside village in Lahad Datu.
A text message allegedly from the office of Kota Marudu District Officer, Luvita Koisun, calling on village headmen and kampung JKKK chairmen to be on alert for suspicious figures has also prompted villagers to take extra precautions.
A Kota Marudu district security meeting is reportedly being held today.
Police in the sleepy towns of Pitas and Kudat in the north of the state are said to be on high alert. It was also learnt that all vacations for police personnel in the state have been frozen with immediate effect.
It is also understood that most districts have also started to activate their respective security meeting with respective district police chiefs or OCPD now on a 24 hours stand-by.
The state has been a hive of security activity since the eight policemen were killed over the weekend in a backlash from the Friday shoot-out in Kampung Tanduoa in Lahad Datu. Eighteen Filipino gunmen have also died over the weekend.
It was learnt that more elite police and army units have been dispatched from the peninsula and Sarawak to Sabah in recent days. Several military aircrafts have also been seen flying in and out from the Kota Kinabalu International Airport for the past one week now.
Meanwhile, a supermarket worker from Semporna known only as Siti, said her parents yesterday told her to be extra careful and that many of the houses around Semporna’s water villages were being vacated following Saturday’s bloody ambush at Kampung Sri Jaya.
She said the police presence failed to quell fears and people were moving out to other safer villages.
“My parent told me that many villagers now put out the lights at homes much earlier in the night due to fear it would be a beacon for intruders from seas to come ashore,” she said adding she felt quite safe in Kota Kinabalu but feared for her parents back home.
The authorities’ handling of prolonged siege in Lahad Datu and subsequent killings has not inspired confidence among much of the public.
Increased roadblocks
Public are questioning the contradictory reports by the authorities. At first it was reported that about 20 armed men had been surrounded soon after they came ashore on Feb 9 and took over the village on Feb 12.
Top government officials downplayed the incident and assured the public that the case would be settled there and in no time.
But then without warning, an exchange of fire erupted between the police and the Filipino intruders on Friday, and Sabahans were shocked to learn that armed intruders were also seen in other nearby towns like Semporna and Kunak.
Suspicious boats were also said to have been spotted nearby and as far as Pitas and Kudat in northern Sabah.
Earlier in the stand-off, Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, speaking from Manila, had said that there were about 400 of his men who made it to Sabah. This was in stark contrast with the Malaysian authority’s version that only about 130 men and women were holed-up in Tanduo.
The sultan had also said that if his men were armed, the firearms were already in Sabah well before that.
Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar has assured that the situation is under control but many see this as a standard response in any situation and not reflective of the true situation.
Many see the increased roadblocks and with bus passengers being asked to disembark and their identities checked as an indication that the authorities are worried.
This time, they say, the roadblocks are manned by a large number of policemen armed with automatic weapons.
By Luke Rintod
Hishammuddin seru rakyat doakan keselamatan anggota
ReplyDeleteKUALA LUMPUR 5 Mac - Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein melalui laman Twitternya menyeru agar semua orang berdoa demi keselamatan anggota dan semoga operasi berjalan mengikut apa yang telah dirancang.
Beliau mengulas tentang kenyataan yang dikeluarkan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak pagi ini yang menjelaskan tentang serangan ke atas kumpulan penceroboh bersenjata di Lahad Datu. - UTUSAN
Kenyataan Perdana Menteri atas serangan di Lahad Datu
ReplyDeletePUTRAJAYA 5 Mac - Berikut kenyataan penuh Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak berhubung tindakan pasukan keselamatan melancarkan serangan ke atas penceroboh di Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu pada pukul 7 pagi ini:
SEJAK pencerobohan oleh kumpulan bersenjata di Lahad Datu pada Feb 12, kerajaan telah mengambil pendekatan untuk menyelesaikan konflik ini tanpa pertumpahan darah.
Pihak polis telah mengadakan pertemuan dan rundingan dengan harapan penceroboh akan bersetuju keluar dengan aman tanpa dikenakan sebarang tindakan undang-undang yang serius.
Semakin lama pencerobohan ini berlanjutan, jelas kepada pihak berkuasa bahawa penceroboh tidak berniat untuk keluar dari tanah Sabah. Pada hari Jumaat lepas mereka telah melepaskan tembakan ke arah anggota polis yang bertugas di kawasan tersebut menyebabkan dua anggota kita terbunuh, sehari kemudian enam lagi anggota polis dibunuh oleh penceroboh di Semporna.
Setelah serangan yang pertama, saya telah menegaskan bahawa penceroboh mesti menyerah diri dan jika mereka enggan pihak berkuasa negara ini akan bertindak.
Sebagai negara Islam yang cintakan keamanan dan mengangkatkan perjuangan penyelesaian konflik scara perundingan, usaha kita menggelakkan pertumpahan darah di Lahad Datu tidak berjaya.
Sebaliknya, anggota pasukan keselamatan kita diserang dan dibunuh, rakyat Malaysia khususnya di Sabah bimbangkan keselamatan mereka.
Kerajaan mesti mengambil tindakan yang sewajarnya bagi menjaga marurah dan kedaultan negara sebagaimana yang dituntut oleh rakyat. Pada jam 7pagi ini pasukan keselamatan telah melancarkan serangan di Kampung Tanduo.
DATUK SERI MOHD. NAJIB TUN RAZAK
Kumpulan bersenjata Sulu bersenjata telah ditumpaskan oleh pasukan keselamatan Malaysia dalam kejadian tembak-menembak secara besar-besaran bermula pukul 7 pagi Selasa, kata sumber polis.
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