Tanduo Intrusion Not Claim for Sabah Rights but Failure to Provide Security - Jeffrey

Kota Kinabalu: “The Defence Minister’s attempt and excuse to link the recent Tanduo intrusion with the growing internal state nationalism to seek the restoration of State rights in Sabah as well as in Sarawak is a weak and feeble attempt to deflect from the failure of the federal government and its leaders to fulfil the promises and failure to provide the security to Sabah since 1963” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief in a follow-up statement released today.

The promises of the then Malayan leaders to provide security against the twin threats from Philippines and Indonesia as well as development were the fundamental basis to persuade and induce Sabah and Sarawak to form Malaysia in 1963.

Anwar’s hand in Lahad Datu isn’t credible theory!

By Joe Fernandez

There is quite a bit of material in the mainstream and alternative media hinting, suggesting and even accusing Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim as the arch villain behind the Lahad Datu intrusion and subsequent standoff.

As the various conspiracy theories go, this is the weakest of them all. We can only await the proposed Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Lahad Datu with bated breaths.

Anwar may have met Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari in Jakarta and Manila, as reported by several sources including Malaysia Today. However, such meetings by themselves tell nothing. Both men were longtime friends. The MNLF Leader may have wanted to catch up with the Opposition Leader because he’s also the Prime Minister in Waiting.

Insecurity in eastern Sabah raises questions!

By Joe Fernandez
Hoteliers in Sabah are grumbling increasingly loudly that tourists are canceling too many bookings in the wake of the Lahad Datu Standoff and the on-going mopping up operations by security forces. They worry that things may become a whole lot worse for the hospitality industry in the state before turning for the better, if at all, in the near future.

The state has some 25, 000 hotel rooms to help the hospitality industry rake in some RM 5.2 billion last year from nearly three million visitors. The forecast revenue for 2015, according to Sabah Tourism Board chairman Tengku Zainal Adlin, is RM 15 billion on the high side. That amounts to a quarter of the RM 60 billion per annum that Malaysia presently collects from tourism receipts.

‘Sulu army chief – a Malaysian’

Datu Agbimudin Kiram, a former civil servant in
the state who turn into terrorist.

PETALING JAYA: Agbimudin Kiram, leader of the armed intruders in Lahad Datu, used to work as a civil servant in the state, alleged PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli.

Speaking during a press conference held at the party headquarters here, Rafizi said this proved that Agbimudin holds a Malaysian citizenship.

“He used to work as an administrative assistant at the Kudat district office, proving that he is a Malaysian citizen,” said Rafizi.

He later produced the list of Sabah civil servants in 1975, taken from the state archives. [See below]

The list shows Agbimuddin, known as Datu Agbimudin Kiram, employed as state administrative assistant in Kudat, starting Sept 9, 1974 with a salary of RM610.

Media should not play up Mahathir

By Joe Fernandez 

The way former Prime Mahathir Mohamad has been carrying on since retiring, keeping himself very much in the public eye, it appears that he wants his old job back and this time perhaps until he dies and that could be at 97+. That could be the real reason why the 13th General Election has been unduly delayed.

Mahathir is now 88 years old.

Mahathir's latest visit was to Sabah where he visited the troops in Lahad Datu besides delivering a lecture at UMS on the RCI.

Lahad Datu Stand off: Najib should bear the responsibility

Looking back at my past articles, I don't know whether I should feel vindicated that I had made a correct prediction.

I had joined a media trip to Sabah which took place in mid-August 2008 in conjunction with the visit of the then Deputy Prime Minister cum Defence Minister Najib Razak to Sabah’s forward bases.

During a media briefing session on 10 August 2008, the forward base senior military officer Commander Hanafi, who was the Markas Angkatan Tugas Bersama 2 (MATB 2) Chief of Staff, told the media that there were six external security threats scattered offshore Sabah, namely Abu Sayyaf, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Moro National Liberation Front, Misuari Breakaway Group, ransom-seeking criminal groups and Bangsa Sulu Royal Army (BSRA).

13th GE may reflect ‘fallout’ from Lahad Datu Standoff

By Joe Fernandez
It cannot be denied that for various reasons the on-going Lahad Datu Standoff may have an effect on the forthcoming 13th General Election results in Sabah.

The jury is still out on the question of who stands to “gain” most and who stands to “lose” i.e. if the General Election in eastern Sabah is held at the same time as in the rest of the Territory and country.

Judging from former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh’s reported appeal letter this week to Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein Onn, the police are seizing the Malaysian personal documents of Suluks in Semporna and Lahad Datu and tearing them up before their very eyes. Apparently, these documents include IMM13 immigration documents issued to refugees and MyPRs or the red-coloured Permanent Residence Identity Cards.

Malaysia a failure in Sabah, Sarawak

By Joe Fernandez

It’s patently pointless getting into rhetoric and polemics on Malaysia in Sabah and Sarawak, at this juncture, in the wake of the Lahad Datu Standoff. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has vowed that Sabah will remain forever within Malaysia. Apologists for his Administration swear that Malaysia was properly constituted in Sabah as well.

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) in The Ballad of East and West

Malaya on the one hand, and Sabah and Sarawak on the other hand, are poles apart.