'Age not a factor for intrusion leader'
Published on: Friday, April 15, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: An elderly Filipino accused in the Lahad Datu intrusion trial told the High Court here Thursday that age was not a factor for the leader of the intrusion to intrude into Sabah. Speaking in Bajau language, Ismail Yasin, 76, the eldest accused in the case, said the leader Agbimuddin Kiram allowed anyone, regardless of their age, to follow him to the State. "He didn't care about age. Anyone who wanted to follow him was allowed to do so," he said through a court interpreter when asked by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Jamil Aripin during cross-examination on why Agbimuddin agreed to allow the accused to follow him to Sabah in 2013 knowing that he (Ismail) was 73 years old at the time.
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Ismail was charged with being a member of a terrorist group and waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong during the armed intrusion at Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu in 2013. He told the court that a man known only as Herman had come to his village at Tandubanak in Sibutu Island, Philippine, promising the villagers a Malaysian identity document and work opportunity in Sabah. "A letter was shown to us. There was no mention about any war in the letter."When we were at Kampung Tanduo, I heard people saying that Agbimuddin was asked to leave (by the police) and it was then that I realised that I was cheated because all promises made back in the village were untrue," he said.
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Ismail said he wanted to leave the group, but was threatened by some of the armed intruders that he would be shot dead if he tried to run away. He said he only managed to flee from the village on March 1, 2013, when a skirmish erupted between the security forces and the armed intruders.
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"I ran and found an empty house. The house was located near a river and I saw a 'lepa' (boat) by the riverbank. "There was an oar inside the 'lepa' and I climbed into it with my bag and paddled the 'lepa' towards the sea," he said, adding that while at sea, he was spotted by a Malaysian navy vessel and arrested. Thirteen Filipinos and a local are entering their defence before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prison Department for various offences allegedly committed between Feb 12 and April 10, 2013. Some of the accused are facing one to multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group and waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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