Putrajaya should take the rap for Sabah’s security problems, says Jeffrey Kitingan
A leading Sabah politician today blamed the state’s security issues on Putrajaya, saying the federal government has failed repeatedly to ensure the safety and security of people in the east Malaysian state.
STAR Sabah chief Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan (pic) said the ineffectiveness of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) has been proven on several occasions.
"It is time to seriously consider the establishment of a Sabah Homeland Security Agency to complement and supplement the shortcomings of the federal security.
"This Homeland Security agency should take charge of Sabah immigration, Sabah national registration, the state police and labour including foreign workers," he said in a statement.
Kitingan said a Homeland Security agency in the state would be a long-term security measure, adding that it would be better than relying on an ad-hoc arrangement whenever there are kidnappings and foreign intrusion.
"This proposed mechanism is important in view of the recent kidnappings and insecurity in Sabah," Jeffrey said.
Kitingan said the issuance of MyKad to illegal immigrants in Sabah also posed a security problem.
"There have been Indonesians employed as security guards, one even shot dead a bank officer in Subang USJ last year."
The recent kidnappings, especially of foreign tourists, can seriously harm the Sabah economy, Kitingan said.
Fresh off a piracy case last Sunday, Sabah was shaken by the kidnapping of another Chinese national from an island nearby on Tuesday.
In the Tuesday incident, a 34-year-old fish farm manager from Guangzhou was kidnapped by five Filipino gunmen.
The gunmen were also involved in a brief shootout with Malaysian security forces before they fled to Sibutu Island in the southern Philippines.
The kidnapping came about 28 hours after four pirates armed with M16 rifles attacked four fishermen and robbed them of their outboard engines on Sunday at Tanjung Labian.
The 10-minute raid at 2.45am on Tuesday at Wonderful Terrace Sdn Bhd fish farm on Pulau Baik, close to the shores of Silam, about 30km south of Lahad Datu, shocked Sabahans.
On April 2, gunmen from southern Philippines snatched Chinese tourist Gao Huayun, 29, and resort worker Marcy Dayawan, 40, from the Singamata Reef Resort in the neighbouring Semporna district.
Their whereabouts in the southern Philippines remained unknown although the Malaysian authorities had said that they were safe.
On November 15 last year, a Taiwanese woman Chang An Wei, 58, was kidnapped from the Pom Pom resort while her husband Li Min Hsu, 57, was killed when gunmen raided the resort.
She was released a month later after an undisclosed ransom was paid. – May 10, 2014.
