On 30th March, Tourism Minister Datuk Sri Nazri gave assurance to the whole world that Sabah is safe for tourists to visit during his official visit to the state. Ironically, his assurance was immediately given a “slap in the face” by the recent abduction of four Malaysians off the coast of eastern Sabah.
DAP Sibu on behalf of the party expressed its sympathy to the families of the kidnapping victims.
This is a serious security breach that should not have happened, particularly since the government consolidated the structure and capabilities of ESSCOM. But, the recent abduction proves current security measures are insufficient to curb the serious national security threats.
In response, on top of current night sea curfew, the federal government suspended eastern Sabah sea trade to further prevent contact between Sabahans and Phillipinos.
In my view, the recent abduction proves current security measures are insufficient to curb the serious threats and the suspension of sea trade is a desperate measure which doesn’t really address the crux of the problems.
If sea curfew and suspension of sea trade are the right measures to counter the deteriorating sea security threats, then why didn’t the federal government impose the same measures when the Straits of Malacca encountered nonstop sea hijacking cases during early 2000s?
The federal government didn’t do it because they acted swiftly by deploying a handful of military assets, conducting all-weather and round-the-clock air sea patrol, and forming regional anti pirate arrangement in the Straits of Malacca.
However, this was not the case in Sabah, where no swift internal and external measures were taken.
Statistics speak clearer than a thousand word. According to a parliamentary answer given by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Dato’ Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, security in Sabah and Sarawak has been long marginalized. In the past 15 years investment in security in Peninsula Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak and others respectively were 41.89%, 4.41%, 2.92% and 50.79%.
| States | RMKe-8 (2001-2005)(RM’ billion) | RMKe-9 (2006-2010)(RM’ billion) | RMKe-10 (2011-2015)(RM’ billion) |
Total (2001-2015)(RM’ billion) | Percentage |
| Peninsula | 7.75 | 8.48 | 12.47 | 28.7 | 41.89 |
| Sabah | 0.83 | 1.15 | 1.04 | 3.02 | 4.41 |
| Sarawak | 0.45 | 0.72 | 0.82 | 2.0 | 2.92 |
| Other states | 12.97 | 14.86 | 6.97 | 34.8 | 50.79 |
| Total | 22.0 | 25.2 | 21.3 | 68.5 | 100.0 |
The force deployment is imbalanced given the geographical areas in Sabah and Sarawak that the security forces need to take care are larger and more challenging. Hence, we should redeploy the security forces to address the pressing needs, at least at 50:50 ratio.
Besides, the situation in Sabah will not improve without solving the illegal immigrant issue. There is no doubt that Sabah is flooded by illegal immigrants from Philippines and Indonesia, but how many of them and where are they exactly? A re-registration of immigrants is needed desperately to solve this issue.
Apart from that, the negative implications of insurgency in south Philippines has spilled over to Malaysia, so much so that abducting Sabahans to claim ransom has become a lucrative “source of income” for the insurgents!
This is a regional security issue and interstate efforts are needed to overcome it. Th ASEAN Political Security Community was established early this year. It is the high time to raise the issue at the meeting of the Political Community to call for a high level meeting, i.e. Malaysia-Indonesia-Philippines Foreign Minister plus Defence Minister joint meeting to look for swift measures against the uncontrollable Sabah sea threats. This case falls squarely within the purpose of the ASEAN Political Security Community, which is to improve regional peace and security.
Therefore, I call upon the relevant ministers to look into the three issues I raised here, i.e. redeployment of forces, registration of illegal immigrants, and commencing immediate regional security cooperation immediately to address the issue.