Musa's woes: Hostages, terrorism, pirates

KOTA KINABALU: Security issues along Sabah's coastal stretch and in surrounding waters continue to haunt Chief Minister Musa Aman.

Despite yesterday's successful release of Malaysian hostages Tsen Vui Chung, 42, and Lai Wing Chau, 33, the matter is unlikely to rest.

Both Tsen and Lai were kidnapped on Feb 8 from a seaweed farm in the east coast town of Semporna by Filipino Muslims.

Hostages, terrorism, pirates and highsea drama is not unknown in Sabah, which is also home to a sizeable Filipino and Indonesian Muslim community.

The prolonged armed conflict in the southern Philippines has over the years sent thousands of refugees into Malaysia, increasing its population especially in Sabah.

Today many of these Muslims are said to hold Malaysian citizenry while maintaining their Filipino passports, much to the chagrin of native Sabahans who allege that they along with thousands of Indonesian immigrants have deprived them of their sovereign rights.

Sabah has long been known as a “rest and recreation” place with government hospitalisation facilities for “freedom fighters” from the southern Philippines.

Arms and weapons arriving from Libya were off-loaded in Sandakan for safekeeping by the police until smaller boat arrived to ship them across to the Philippines, which is a couple of hours away from Sabah's coast.

Many in the intelligence community here and in America acknowledge that without Sabah, it would not be possible to sustain the internal armed conflict in the southern Philippines.

As such, it comes as little surprise that a self-proclaimed “sultan” of Sabah, Datu Mudarasulail Kiram, who has claimd credit for facilitating the release of the hostages, is being hosted by the American embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

In a telephone interview with FMT, “sultan” Mudarasulail confirmed that the American embassy has been “hospitable” to his team and that he had facilitated the release of the two hostages in time for them to celebrate Christmas with their families.

Mudarasulail and his brothers – self-styled “sultan” Yidon Kiram of Palawan and Tawi-Tawi, and “sultan” Muedzulail Kiram of Jolo, Sulu – are well known in the southern Philippines and among the Filipino Muslims in Sabah.