Security in Sabah now faces "the enemies within"

KOTA KINABALU -  “PM Najib, the Home and Defence Ministers need to take some time off from their Malaysian Mess politicking and do some serious thinking to solve the Sabah security problem permanently" said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, commenting on the inability of Esscom to resolve Sabah and Malaysia’s security threats with a shooting incident off Pom-Pom Island, Semporna, yesterday.

Instead of spending 100% of their time on 1MDB, the Mara Australian debacle and lobbying in Umno’s now-deferred party elections, they need to spend some quality time to think and resolve Sabah’s security threats.

A deeper analysis of the recent statements from ESSCOM show that the Sabah insecurity problems are deep-rooted, self-inflicted and serious and drastic measures are needed to overcome them.

At least, ESSCOM has now acknowledged that the enemies are within due to many foreigners who have been given ICs and MyKads dubiously in the past. They also acknowledge that the problem is compounded by civil servants and security personnel tainted by corruption and lack of integrity.

Yet, on the other hand, the issuance of dubious MyKads especially to Indonesians and some Pakistanis and Indian muslims is still on-going. This only serve to create additional problems while the earlier problem of foreigners being given ICs unlawfully remain unresolved with no action taken to resolve them.

As for the 200,000 illegals, which is probably nearer to 1.5 million, waiting to be deported, it is unlikely that deportation will resolve the problem. Deportation exercises have been carried out in the past, mostly half-heartedly so that some connected parties get a share of the lucrative deportation contracts, but the numbers keep increasing yearly.   Obviously, deportation alone does not solve the problem.

Meantime, the locals especially natives and tourists are made to pay the price with kidnappings and other crimes and social problems as well as infiltration of these foreigners in daily lives. Even Pakistanis, many with dubiously obtained long-term social passes, manipulate the laws to carry out retail outlets and illegal money-lending activities.   Some even force local borrowers to marry off their daughters to these lenders because of the loans.

Yet, the Sabah government has taken no action and allowed the problem to fester and grow.   Sabah’s security problems have certainly grown. It is beginning to get out of hand. The Pom-Pom Island shooting is not unexpected given that the Malaysian government had secretly trained and armed the militant insurgency in the Southern Philippines.

To come to think of the security problems, it was precisely a very important promise by Malaya that Sabah will be protected that persuaded Sabah’s founding fathers to agree to the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

“What a farce, the promise of security has turned out to be 52 years later,” said Dr. Jeffrey.

Instead of the threat of invasion by Philippines and Indonesia in 1963, it has now turned out to be an invasion by Filipinos and Indonesians. They now outnumber locals and genuine Sabahans.

While ESSCOM serves Umno and BN’s political purpose with the insertion of the 12,000-13,000 personnel and their families as additional voters to ensure BN win big in Sabah in GE-14, it is not a long-term solution to Sabah’s security.

The security threats have remained even after 2 years of ESSCOM’s establishment.  Serious decision and drastic steps are needed to be taken that requires the PM and his security Ministers to put on their thinking caps.

Perhaps, the federal government will only act when the foreigners start taking steps to do a reverse takeover of Sabah or to take Sabah out of Malaysia. Even then, action is taken not because the federal government wish to solve the security problem but because they fear losing Sabah and all its oil and gas resources, its cash-cow and fixed deposit to remain in power.

Therefore, there must be a concerted effort and additional measures to safeguard Sabah’s security in the long-term starting with solutions to the illegals, unlawful ICs, illegal voters and the discontinuance of issuance of dubious ICs.