They’re terrorists, not intruders, says Musa

Sabah’s Musa Aman upped the ante when he
barred the use of the term 'Sulu Sultan' in all
media and securities forces references.

KOTA KINABALU: The brief notice to all parties concerned read: “Use the term ‘terrorist’ instead of ‘intruder’; Don’t use the term ‘sultan’ as if we recognise the fact.”

The notice from Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman’s office clearly announced that terrorism had reared its ugly head in Sabah.

In a bid to thoroughly discredit the armed group of Filipinos who daringly took over a small, remote village in Lahad Datu on the east coast of the state and are still fighting Malaysian security forces, Sabah Barisan Nasional government yesterday formally declared the attack as an act of terrorism.

Journalists covering the lengthy mopping-up operations by police and the military in Lahad Datu were told to refer to the group of intruders from Sulu as “terrorists” and also to stop referring to Jamalul Kiram III, under whose name they had entered Sabah, as the “Sulu Sultan”.

Musa, who is also the chairman of the Sabah Security Committee, issued the order after a meeting of the committee yesterday morning but gave no reasons.

The official notice makes Sabah the first state in the country to be recognised as facing a terrorist threat since the end of the communist insurgency in Malaya ended.

With his latest directive, Musa has upped the ante to thoroughly discredit the attack and dismiss the Sulu claims.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Ahmad Maslan had reportedly also said that the intruders who have terrorised others should not be likened to a respectable group like an army.

“Stop referring to that terrorist group as the royal army of the Sulu sultanate… it is also inappropriate to link the Sulu community in Sabah with the group,” he said at a meeting with Suluk community leaders in Lahad Datu on Saturday night.

“Evil has nothing to do with race. One can be evil because of greed, power greedy, with shallow religious faith and possess animalistic character,” he said.

Hunt still on

Meanwhile, police have declared that Tanduo in Lahad Datu, the landing site of militant intruders last month, as free of the Sulu gunmen.

Security forces are still hunting the remaining militant intruders in the Tanjung Batu and Sungai Bilis areas.

Sabah Police Commissioner Hamza Taib said on Sunday that a suspect was shot dead in Kampung Tanjung Batu, making the total number of militant intruders killed 54.

Ninety-seven people were detained for suspected involvement with the gunmen, he said, adding that security forces had also detained 122 people for being in the prohibited zone of “Ops Daulat”.

Security forces launched the offensive against the armed group on March 8.

Speaking at a press conference with Army Infantry Division Commander Major-General Ahmad Zaki Mokhtar here, Hamza said the bodies of 22 of the people killed were sent to the hospital for post-mortems.

Journalists were allowed to take pictures of the bodies to quell suspicions of the number of terrorists killed.

Hamza also refuted the claim that the man who led the group, Agbimuddin Kiram, had escaped the security forces dragnet in Semporna.

“If I knew he was in Semporna, I would have long captured him,” Bernama quoted him as saying. He also denied reports that security forces had mistreated anyone in the Sulu community.

He added that there had also been no police report made against any member of the security forces during their search operations.