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 incursion: Hiding from the truth

By FMT Staff  and Luke Rintod

KOTA KINABALU: As the dust settles on the incursion by a group of armed men from the southern Philippines, the question of who will take responsibility remains hanging. Most politicians in the government have resigned themselves to watching from the sidelines.

Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, the younger brother of Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, appears to be passively muddling through the crisis.

Cracks appearing in Sabah Umno?

By Luke Rintod of FMT

A Sabah NGO - United Suluk Community Organisation (USCO) -
has, strangely enough, decided to move into ‘active’ politics.

KUDAT: Speculation is high that former deputy chief minister under a PBS-plus government, Amir Kahar Mustapha, is about to quit Umno and join an opposition group.

The former Banggi assemblyman, who is the eldest son of ex- Sabah chief minister, the late Tun Mustapha Harun, is said to have been approached by the members of the Suluk community here to represent them in the opposition in the coming election.

Bekas OCPD: Tukar k'jaan, pulihkan wibawa polis

Sumber

Kerajaan sedia ada perlu ditukar jika rakyat benar-benar serius mahu mengembalikan kewibawaan pasukan polis, kata seorang bekas pegawai kanan polis, malam tadi.

Mantan ketua polis daerah Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Mohd Yousoff Babjee berkata, pasukan polis kini menerima terlalu banyak campur tangan politik sehingga mengganggu tugas-tugas mereka.

"Untuk memulihkannya saya rasa kita tukarlah kerajaan. Saya rasa jangan (ada) masuk campur tangan politik (dalam polis).

Malaysia facing policy 'blowback'

The former head of a Philippine separatist group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), has told Al Jazeera that despite support from Malaysia in the 1960s, some of his fighters have now turned against the Malaysian government.

According to Nur Misuari, the MNLF fighters have joined the Royal Army of Sulu, which has been fighting for control of Malaysia's eastern Sabah state.

Al Jazeera's Jamela Alindogan reports from the Philippine capital, Manila, on whether Malaysia's foreign policy in the 1960s has backfired.

Watch video here.