SEMPORNA: The impunity with which gunmen sailed into Sabah’s supposedly tightly guarded Semporna waters, kidnapped a 58-year-old Taiwanese tourist from a resort and killed her husband has exposed the lie that the state’s east coast is safe.
Inspector-General of Police IGP Khalid Abu Bakar would only confirm the incident and that his men are investigating.
While there is an air of business-as-usual among the security folk in Sabah, there is a glow of red faces reaching up to the highest circles.
A massive sea and air search is said to have been launched to locate An Wei Chang and her unidentified abductors who fled the Pom Pom Island Resort and Spa by boat after killing her husband Lim Min Hsu, 57.
The crime took place just a kilometre away from a General Operations Force base and perhaps gave the resort management a false sense of security.
The resort is about 30-minutes speedboat ride away from international waters bordering the Tawi Tawi chain of islands in the Philippines and about 45-minutes away from Semporna town.
It is well known that there are several armed groups, both criminal and militant, in the southern Philippines who are known to change roles according to their needs making it difficult to identify them.
Speculation here is that with their contacts and knowledge of the area, they would not find it impossible to remain in Sabah waters but the gunmen who came in a pump-boat could have also just as easily slipped back into the Tawi Tawi islands under the cover of darkness.
It is understood that following the incident today just after midnight Sabah’s eastern seaboard was sealed immediately after the alarm was sounded.
There is no indication of the number of gunmen involved but initial investigations revealed that three of the water villas at the far end of the resort were ransacked.
It is believed that Lin was shot while trying to fend off the gunmen. According to sources, the resort was at the time housing some 50 people including staff.
ESSCOM lacks fast boats
At a press conference in Lahad Datu, Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM) director general Mohammad Mentek said no ransom demands have been made yet.
He blamed the lack of fast patrol boats at the General Operations Force bases as among the reasons for the lack of a rapid response by security forces.
Mentek also said providing security cover for all areas in Semporna which has over 40 islands so close to the other side of the border was “not easy”.
The incident comes after an integrated security area was set up and placed under the newly formed ESSCOM by the government after the Feb 12 Sulu intrusion in Kg Tanduo in neighbouring Lahad Datu.
The shooting and kidnapping has reopened the still raw wounds in the state inflicted by the Tanduo incident as well as the numerous kidnappings and shootings that have taken place in the east coast of the state for years.
The incident has also ripped up the state’s tourism script for the time being at least.
Foreign embassies are bound to warn their nationals to avoid the east coast and that could put a hole in the pockets of some tourism players who were looking forward to the year-end holiday season when tourists especially from Europe and the US head to sunnier climes to escape the winter.
In the meantime, Mohammad advice to Sabahans is to refrain from speculating about the incident, remain calm and allow the police to investigate.
By Thomas Pi
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