Kidnap-for-ransom worse than human trafficking: Masing

Kota Kinabalu: Human trafficking in the Southeast Asian region, while an important and pressing problem, is not the worst compared to the human trading by the Abu Sayyaf group.Sarawak Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing, who is also the President of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) said the Abu Sayyaf seems to go on a rampage in kidnapping from Sabah shores and would snatch whoever they can get their hands on, be it Taiwanese, Malaysians, Filipinos or whoever.

"In short, it is not a Philippine problem. It is not a Malaysian problem. It is an Asian problem," he said in a statement sent through WhatsApp, Thursday.

He said that the ransom money demanded by the militants is usually in the millions, making kidnap-for-ransom a lucrative business.

"As a result, humans are now being taken to be sold as goods in the market, like fish and chicken. The kidnapping has nothing to do with politics or religion. It is purely economics. It is human lives for money," he said.

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Masing said the invasion of Sabah by the group, followed by the beheading of Sarawakian Bernard Then recently, showed that the group has become bolder.

The 39-year old Then, an engineer, was kidnapped together with a Sabahan, 50-year old Thien Nyuk Fung in July this year at a seafood restaurant in Sandakan, within the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone).

He was murdered after negotiations broke down between the government of Malaysia and the kidnappers.

During the recent Asean meeting, leaders from the ten countries discussed extensively the human trafficking issues in the region and made a stand to share intelligence and resources to counter the problem.

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In the meeting also, the leaders have agreed to adopt the concept of Asean community for that purpose.

"There is a need for the Asean community to handle this menace before it becomes too big to handle. This needs commitment and concerted effort by all Asean countries. Let's learn from the European Union on how they get together to handle the Syrian problem," said Masing.

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