Home Minister invites Nazri to Sabah without bodyguards

Ensuring Sabah’s safety through the establishment of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom), Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has invited Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz to visit Esscom zones without bodyguards present.

“I feel that the situation has improved and I invite the Tourism Minister to visit the areas with me without the presence of bodyguards.

“With curfews imposed, Esszone (Eastern Sabah Security Zone) areas are increasingly safer and more foreign tourists, especially from China, are visiting because of the confidence in the abilities of Esscom authorities,” he said at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) lobby here today.

Met by reporters on the sidelines of the 2014 Umno General Assembly, Ahmad Zahid was responding to a statement by Mohamed Nazri in which the Tourism Minister reportedly said, “I will not go to Sabah if I don’t have a bodyguard.”

Mohamed Nazri also said Sabah’s safety was disrupted due to the intrusion by Sulu militants and the series of kidnappings at Sabah’s east coast.

“I agree with the views of Datuk Seri Nazri six months or a year ago, but the situation is far different now because Esscom is headed by a senior police officer and as Home Minister, I gazetted the imposition of a curfew order at certain times,” added Ahmad Zahid.

In a Parliament sitting prior to this, Mohamed Nazri also touched on the safety of Sabah, saying the state couldn’t assure safety to foreign tourists as long as the kidnapping cases in the areas were not solved.

To date, there were two unsolved cases that took place at Sabah’s East Coast, involving the kidnapping of an Esscom officer on duty and a foreign tourist.