Esscom got priorities wrong: Sandakan MP

SANDAKAN: Member of Parliament Vivian Wong said implementation of the sea curfew in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone) seems no longer effective in curbing the kidnapping threat, especially on the east coast.

She said this is because the attention of Esscom seems to be on checking local boats for licences, safety jackets and number of passengers but not the foreign ones.

“The focus should be boats that do not belong to Malaysia and how to identify them, thus making sure our coast is safe while at the same time identifying foreign boats that act suspiciously.

“As front-liner enforcement guarding our coastal areas, they should also be vigilant and know how to identify threats because these kidnappings keep happening every several months.

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“Few months later, the same thing keeps repeating. This places create a lot of pressure on the people’s representatives and leaders. We need to restructure the whole thing,” she said.

Vivian said the kidnapping threat is among reasons tourism in Sandakan is going downhill, similar to the fishing industry.

“Some of the boats go out to sea during the night and use a spotlight to attract big fish. But this helps the kidnappers from far to locate their target.

“At the moment only one company is still doing this and others had closed down because they dare not operate like that.

“Also we want to know from Esscom how many of their radars are actually functioning and do we have enough surveillance along the coast. I understand the coast is quite big. The important thing is to use IT. Through radar we can know if a suspicious boat is going fast to some place and so forth,” she added.

Vivian plans to meet the Esscom head to have a more detailed briefing. Recently, Indonesia expressed shock that the Malaysian armed forces seem incapable of securing the country’s borders until today despite countless kidnappings.

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Its Defence Minister said it was frustrating to hear that their nationals working as fishermen in Sabah waters have been getting repeatedly kidnapped under the noses of Malaysian army personnel by armed gangs from the southern Philippines.

The latest was the kidnap of five Indonesian fishermen off Lahad Datu, barely a week after the last incident where an earlier group of hostages were also kidnapped from the same area and later was rescued during a clash between Filipino troops and the Abu Sayyaf in Mindanao.

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