Are the naval assets enough to protect 400 islands?
Published on: Tuesday, May 09, 2017
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Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin recently launched the Eastern and Western Fleet base in conjunction with the Royal Malaysian Navy’s 83rd anniversary at the Sepanggar Naval Base.
“The list of assets we have set in Sabah, what our plans are for the security of Sabah, all this has nothing to do with politics. We consider Sabah as part of Malaysia and we will defend every inch of Sabah by any power available to us,” said Hishammuddin, who is also Special Functions Minister.
The Navy chief Admiral Ahmad said “We will improve in terms of capabilities, manpower and also assets, but it will be implemented in stages.”
I think every Malaysian especially Malaysians/Sabahans in Sabah are very concerned about the security in Sabah not only in Esszone but the whole of Sabah especially what we learned from those threatening demographic development in Sabah for decades in the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants Sabah (RCI IIS).
It is known that Sabah has 400 islands around the coast of various sizes with the bigger ones of up to 600 acres.
The transient residents these islands and many hundreds of thousands of “Trojan horses” within mainland Sabah could really pose grave security hazards to State.
Some of these islands could be transit points for criminals, including fishing intruders from the neighbouring countries.
The level of threats from the transient residents in those islands is unknown at the moment.
But search for some information in websites produce a disturbing important message.
Mengalum Island was in the news recently for a sunken Catamaran with 28 Chinese tourists and 3 crew.
A search for that island came out with a message that Mengalum Island is not a tourist resort.
Also the message dated 8 November, 2014 ** left by a foreign tourist exposed that “We were not allowed to swim in the ocean due to sting rays and there was no designated swim area.
We were told it could be dangerous to wander too far down the beach and not to go out of sight of staff due to the Philippine fishermen living on the other side of the island.”
It is better to be cautious than complacent, and so I urge the navy and MMEA to ensure if all our islands are safe without dubious people occupying such islands. Also some quarters have told me the outlying islands in the west coast of Sabah are occupied by “outsiders”. Isn’t Gaya Island so near to KK city also occupied by dubious citizens as squatters houses may have “mushroomed” again?
Would the prevailing naval assets be adequate to deal with 400 islands in Sabah?
Joshua Y. C Kong
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