5 anggota polis terbunuh di Semporna, 2 penjenayah ditembak mati: KPN

LAHAD DATU: Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Ismail Omar mengesahkan lima anggota polis terbunuh dalam kejadian tembakan di Semporna dan dua penjenayah ditembak mati ketika serbuan malam tadi. 

Sementara itu, polis turut menahan tiga penceroboh bersenjata dari Selatan Filipina di Kampung Tanduo, semalam ketika cuba keluar daripada kepungan pihak berkuasa.

Cop killed in Semporna, another injured in gunfight with militants

Special police force guard the area about 3km away from the
location where armed men are holding off, outside
Lahad Datu February 19, 2013. — Reuters file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — A policeman was killed and another injured in a shootout with armed militants in Kampung Selamat, Semporna, last night after police said two others were wounded in a gunfight in nearby Pulau Simunul, three weeks after Filipino militants made an incursion into Sabah.

These incidents around Semporna are 150km away from Lahad Datu where there is still a tense standoff between Malaysian security forces and Filipino militants a day after 14 people were killed in a shootout.

State news agency Bernama reported that the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Ismail Omar, confirmed the incident but refused to comment further.

STAR adds ‘Kita Ambil Balik’ to ‘Ini Kali Lah’

The new slogan is aimed at helping the party take
back what was taken away from Sabahans.

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA KINABALU: With its conviction building that its time has come, Jeffrey Kitingan’s State Reform Party (STAR) has added to its popular slogan, “Ini Kali Lah” the additional phrase “Kita Ambil Balik” (We Shall Take Back) ahead of the coming general election.

STAR Sabah operation room director, Saiman Sandah, in a statement here today said, the slogan “Ini Kali Lah, Kita Ambil Balik” will help pave the way for STAR to lead in taking back what was taken away from the state and Sabahans.

He said the new slogan has already started to be used by STAR leaders at the party’s functions including at a closed-door briefings for potential candidates at the Ming Garden Hotel here over the weekend.

Philippines press: Stand-off is Malaysia’s ‘karma’

The whole saga is a "karma" on Malaysia for its clandestine
role in supporting the Muslim Sulu insurgence against Manila
government in southern Mindanao, says a writer.

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA KINABALU: Philippines dailies are having a field day reporting on the ‘invasion’ Sabah’s east-coast town of Lahad Datu by men claiming to be members of the “Royal Sulu Sultanate army”.

One writer by the name of Ramon Tulfo of the Philippine Daily Inquirer recently wrote that the whole saga was a “karma” on Malaysia for its clandestine role in supporting the Muslim Sulu insurgence against Manila government in southern Mindanao in the 1970s and 1980s.

“When the (Philippines) government was fighting the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) in the 1970s through the 1980s, Malaysia was secretly supporting the rebellion in the South. Weapons coming from Libya and other Middle East countries passed through Malaysia on their way to the MNLF.

Lahad Datu invasion: The real story?

The sultanate has little resources at its disposal to run
the 'government' of Sulu. Thus a fresh deal with
Malaysia will help it keep the ball rolling.

The Lahad Datu “invasion” is not merely about a group of armed men intruding into Sabah. After weeks of a tense standoff between the “occupiers” and Malaysian security forces, a clearer picture has emerged.

It appears that the heavily armed group wants to turn the “occupation” into an international issue, specifically to draw attention to its plea for an independent Sulu sultanate.

But the sultanate is financially not in good shape and hence, the group turned its attention to Sabah where it claimed the Sulu sultan has “rented out” the state to Malaysia.

The Sulu sultan told AFP on Feb 27 that the Malaysian government is paying the sultanate RM5,300 yearly in exchange for agreeing to let Sabah become a Malaysian state.