Jeffrey Asks if Lahad Datu Standoff a Charade to Scare Voters

Does the government led by BN trying to divert voters attention?

By Junior Fendi 
KOTA KINABALU: The State Reform Party suspects that the Barisan Nasional government is trying to gain political mileage from the Lahad Datu standoff, using it to scare the people into voting for the BN in the coming general elections.

 

“It is even possible that this is an elaborate BN military strategy choreographed to achieve that purpose,” its state chairman, Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan said in a statement. “This new form of fear mongering makes sense knowing BN’s desperation in wanting to hold on to power in the light of the ruling coalition’s lowest level of popularity and support at the moment.”

 

Where’s the logic, Hisham?

If the current soft 'handling' of the incursions by armed Filipinos
into Lahad Datu is any measure, then it is clear that Sabahans'
safety is inconsequential to the federal government.

It is an irony how promptly Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein ordered the arrest and deportation of Australian Senator Nick Xenophon while 100 armed Filipinos in military fatigue were being handled with kid gloves by the police and Special Branch officers because they had “links” in Sabah.

Xenophon arrived solo and unarmed but was considered a security threat. But in Lahad Datu, some 100 “soldiers” from the alleged Royal Sultanate of Sulu Army who were armed with “M-14, M-16, M203 and Armalite assault rifles” were considered friendly, “not militants” and “not a threat”.

‘Don’t harm my followers in Sabah’

A supposed heir to the Sulu sultanate wants the Malaysian
government not to harm his followers and wants the
Philippine president to peacefully settle their claims to Sabah.

ZAMBOANGA CITY: A supposed heir to the throne of the sultanate of Sulu province has called on Malaysia not to harm the sultanate’s followers holed out in Lahad Datu.

Sultan Raja Mohammad Ghamar Mamay Hasan Abdurajak said that Sabah rightfully belongs to the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo and he wants President Benigno Aquino to peacefully their claims.

He also said that those who were rounded up by Malaysian security forces are natives of the sultanate and should be accorded their rights to the oil-rich Malaysian state near the Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi.

Lahad Datu – a dangerous game

Source

Why haven't the Sabah police acted against rumoured
disturbances within the state following the 'siege' by
militants in Lahad Datu?

LAHAD DATU: The current drama in Lahad Datu following the incursion of armed men from the Philippines and the government’s “gentle” approach to the situation could backfire on the Barisan Nasional leadership if it is indeed a tactical strategy to scare Sabahans into voting for the ruling coalition.

“If this is the BN game, then it is a dangerous strategy,” said State Reform Party (STAR) chief Jeffrey Kitingan.

“It [the strategy] is a double-edged sword because it can backfire and cause the people to vote against the BN for its obvious failure in flexing the [government's] military muscle for the sake of national dignity and sovereignty.

Lahad Datu stand-off: 3 Al-Jazeera journalists detained for 7 hrs

Source

LAHAD DATU: Three Al-Jazeera journalists covering the stand-off with the Sulu gunmen were detained for nearly seven hours by the police and released.

They were detained at about 8am on Wednesday in a boat near Tanjung Labian not far from the seaside village of Kg Tanduo and taken to the Cenderawasih police station for questioning.

Detained together with them was a boatman and three locals.