East Coast security issues grab spotlight
Published on: Sunday, January 04, 2015
THE State faced a troubled first six months in 2014 in terms of security, beginning with the abduction of a 29-year-old female Chinese tourist, Gao Hua Yuan, a student from Shanghai and a 40-year-old Filipina female resort worker, Marcy Dayawan, at the Singamata Adventures Reef and Resort off Semporna April 2 by a group of seven armed men. Gao was rescued by Malaysian authorities in May and was sent to her country of origin on May 31. This was followed by the abduction of a 34-year-old Chinese national fish farm manager Yang Zai Lin by five men armed with M16 rifles in Balik Pulau close to Silam in Kunak on May 6. He was only released from captivity on July 10.
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On June 16, another cage fish breeder, 32-year-old Chan Sai Chiun, from Ipoh, Perak and a Filipino worker were abducted by two armed men at the caged fish farm in Kg Air Sapang, some 10km from Kunak town. Chan was released on Dec 10, after his wife lobbied tooth-and-nail to secure his freedom. The last straw came on July 12, when heavily armed men shot and killed a 32-year-old policeman, Cpl Ab Rajah Jamuan and kidnapped police Constable Zakiah Aleip at a resort in Pulau Mabul in Semporna. Zakiah is still being held hostage at press time.Questions were being raised over these incidents considering that there was supposed to be tight security came with the formation of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) and the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) in 10 districts along the East Coast region following the intrusion by gunmen from the Southern Philippines in Kg. Tanduo Lahad Datu in 2013.That clash led to the death of five Malaysian security forces who were killed in an ambush in Kg Jaya Simunul in Semporna. Two of the personnel were beheaded by the intruders.
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However, the tightened security with massive operations to curb illegal entry saw a series of crimes by gunmen who now resorted to kidnapping, targeting resort islands and cage fish farms off the East Coast waters.In a bid to further strengthen security in the East Coast, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the restructuring of Esscom on July 8.
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This involved the setting up of two major components – security and defence management as well as enforcement and public action , and Esscom Security and Public Order Division Director Datuk Abd Rashid Harun was made Esscom Commander, with the post of Director-General renamed, effectively July 15. Datuk Mohammad Mentek who served as the Director-General when Esscom was established on April 1 2013, assumed the role of Human Resource Management Division Secretary at the Ministry of Education on Oct 1 2014. In an effort to curb cross-border crimes in the East Coast, new State Commissioner Police Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman, who succeeded Datuk Hamza Taib on June 10, declared a 12-hour curfew order from 6pm to 6am on the waters off six districts namely Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Lahad Datu, Kunak, Semporna and Tawau. On Oct 31, Jalaluddin told a media conference that two men, believed to be involved in a series of armed robberies in Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu and Penampang, had been shot dead after a shootout occurred between the men and police at Penampang Baru. The men, aged 50 and 45, were Filipinos whom the police had been tracking and they were also on the list of wanted individuals of the Esscom. They were later identified as high-ranking officers linked to the Royal Sulu Force and kidnap-for-ransom group, responsible for the series of kidnapping in the East Coast. The trial of the alleged Sulu gunmen who intruded in Kg. Tanduo was also opened on Jan 6 at the High Court this year, which is sitting at the Sabah Prisons Department in Kota Kinabalu. Twenty-seven Filipinos and three locals are facing one to multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group , waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, recruiting members for a terrorist group or willfully harbouring individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group. The much-anticipated report by the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in Sabah was also released on Dec 3 with some recommendations already agreed upon by the government, such as the establishment of Esscom to beef up security while curbing the illegal entry of foreigners via the East Coast. In an announcement during the release of the report, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa said the government had agreed to set up a Permanent Committee to deal with the matter of illegal immigrants in the State as recommended by the RCI.The committee will be jointly chaired by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman and the Home Minister, and would report to the Federal Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, while the Working Committee, chaired by Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, was also formed to evaluate the issues raised in the RCI report. The first 12-days of 2014 also started with glass walls of nearly 50 business premises – in Kota Kinabalu and in Penampang – being randomly targeted in a shooting spree which the then Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib confirmed to be the work of mischievous youths. On the first day of Chinese New Year, a 12-year-old girl who worked as a caddy at a golf course in Keningau was killed after being struck at the back of her head with a golf ball. The year also saw a 22-year-old German tourist, identified as Viktoria Poulsen, falling to her death, after she allegedly slipped and fell some 30 metres from Mount Kinabalu's highest point, Low's peak, in Kundasang. Car-jacking was also reported with the first on Apr 8, where an eight-year-old boy was left in the vehicle with its engine running while his mother went to buy bread from a vendor some 24 feet from where the vehicle was parked. Fortunately the boy was found safe and still asleep in the vehicle which was driven by the culprit to a parking lot in Asia City two hours later. On May 11, another vehicle was hijacked, this time also involving a three-year-old boy who was asleep in the rear seat of his father's four-wheel-drive. The vehicle was recovered several hours later near the Atkinson Clock Tower along Jalan Signal Hill. Low remained missing until today. On July 7, another car hijacking was reported but this ended tragically when the 66-year-old car owner was killed when he tried to stop a thief driving off with the vehicle in Luyang. As the year came towards the end, several suicide and attempted suicide incidents were reported, with one man in his 20s who attempted to jump off the Megalong Shopping Complex building in PenampangThis occurred barely a day after a woman tried to take her own life by slashing herself with scissors and a knife after discovering her husband's body hanging from the ceiling of their rented room in Kg. Air in Kota Kinabalu. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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