Sultan’s men, Malaysian forces exchange fire

 News
Feb 282013
 
Sultan’s men, Malaysian forces exchange fire

By Allan NawalPhilippine Daily Inquirer 11:17 am | Friday, March 1st, 2013 DAVAO CITY — Malaysian security forces clashed with members of the Sulu sltanate’s “royal army” Friday as they moved in to forcibly haul the “invaders” off Lahad Datu, a Sabah-based radio station said in its short wave broadcast monitored here. The station said its reporter was stationed near Felda 17, the seaside village where Agbimuddin Kiram and his armed followers of about 180 had been encamped since February 12. The station quoted its reporter as saying that he heard heavy firing shortly after 10 a.m. The Sabah radio said efforts to get comments from Malaysian authorities failed as they were mum on the incident but some villagers claimed seeing bodies being moved out. With earlier reports from INQUIRER.net, Radyo Inquirer 990AM. Follow Us Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines. Tags: Conflict , Jamalul Kiram , Malaysia , Sabah Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s day desk. Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer’s Reader’s Advocate. Or write The Readers’ Advocate: c/o Philippine Daily Inquirer Chino Roces Avenue corner Yague and Mascardo Streets, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines Or fax nos. +63 2 8974793 to 94

Malaysians should talk to sultan, says younger Kiram in Sabah

 News
Feb 282013
 
Malaysians should talk to sultan, says younger Kiram in Sabah

By Allan Nawal and Julie AlipalaInquirer Mindanao 5:24 pm | Thursday, February 28th, 2013 DAVAO CITY, Philippines – If Malaysian officials want to end the stand-off in Lahad Datu, they should talk directly to Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, the leader of Kiram’s “royal army” that has occupied a fishing  village in the east Malaysia state of Sabah since Feb. 9 said Thursday. Agbimuddin Kiram, who calls himself the crown prince of the ancient Sultanate of Sulu, said only his elder brother, the sultan, could order them to leave Felda Sahabat 17 in Tungku, a village in the Tanduo district of Lahad Datu. Speaking over a Sabah radio station, whose shortwave broadcast was monitored here, Agbimuddin said in a mixture of Melayu, Tausug and English that any negotiation “should be through the sultan.” Agbimuddin’s group has been holed up in Tanduo, a sparsely populated fishing and farming area some 130 kilometers from the center of Lahad Datu,  since Feb. 9 and has refused to leave even after Malaysian security forces surrounded them three days later. The same line was used by Agbimuddin in a separate interview, The Star Malaysia reported. “All negotiations have to go through my brother in Manila. The final line is my brother,” The Star quoted Agbimuddin as saying by phone. In Thursday’s radio interview, Agbimuddin stressed the need for the Malaysian government to negotiate with his brother so the issue could be addressed. The Kirams had said that their “homecoming” in Sabah was aimed at advancing their Read More …

President Aquino appeals to Sultan of Sulu to recall followers and end Sabah Standoff

 Entertainment
Feb 272013
 
President Aquino appeals to Sultan of Sulu to recall followers and end Sabah Standoff

  (Map coutesy of www.sabah.edu.my) President Benigno S. Aquino III appealed to Sultan Jamalul Kiram III of Sulu to recall his followers holed up in a portion of Lahad Datu town in the eastern province of Sabah, Malaysia in order to peacefully end the two-week standoff between Malaysian authorities and the Sulu Sultan who has been pressing his people’s claim to said land. The President aired his appeal in a press conference with the Malacanang Press Corps that was aired over government-run television and radio stations People’s Television (PTV-4) and dzRB Radyoo ng Bayan on Tuesday. “And so this is my appeal to you: These are your people, and it behooves you to recall them. It must be clear to you that this small group of people will not succeed in addressing your grievances, and that there is no way that force can achieve your aims,” the President said. “You are a leader of your clan, and every leader seeks the well-being of his constituents. These times require you to use your influence to prevail on our countrymen to desist from this hopeless cause,” he added. According to the President, Philippine and Malaysian authorities have been coordinating efforts to peacefully resolve the situation…and have not ceased.” “What is clear is that a peaceful resolution of this issue is to everybody’s interest. Even if we assume, for the sake of argument, that there are legitimate grievances, the presence of an armed group in Lahad Datu will only bring us further away Read More …

Malaysian National Security Council takes control over Sabah standoff

 News
Feb 262013
 
Malaysian National Security Council takes control over Sabah standoff

INQUIRER.net 6:33 am | Wednesday, February 27th, 2013 Sultan Jamalul Kiram lll speaks during a news conference at his house in Maharlika Village, Taguig City. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—A radio report early Wednesday said Malaysia’s National Security Council (NSC) had taken over the standoff situation between the group of Sulu sultanate-led Filipino “intruders” and Malaysian authorities in Sabah. The extended 48-hour deadline for the group to leave the island, which the sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III, claims as their land, lapsed after the last hour of Tuesday. The report said Deputy Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar was coordinating with Sabah police and the military in trying to resolve the standoff. Sultan Kiram III on Tuesday ignored President Aquino’s warning that his followers, holed up in Tanduao village in Lahad Datu town and numbering 236, would “face the full force of the law.”—Rick Alberto

Despite incident involving armed Pinoys, Malacañang won't reopen Sabah claim

 News
Feb 182013
 
Despite incident involving armed Pinoys, Malacañang won't reopen Sabah claim

Malaysian cops, troops surround Filipino armed group in Sabah . Sabah Police Commissioner Hamza Taib (center) leaves after a meeting at a police base near Lahad Datu on Borneo island on Sunday. About 100 armed men holed up in a village in Sabah, Malaysia refuse to leave, saying they have links with the Sultanate of Sulu in the Philippines which has a historic claim over the northern tip of Borneo island. Malaysia police and army troops have surrounded the village, with navy boats patrolling nearby islands. Reuters/Bazuki Muhammad Malacañang remained adamant that despite the incident involving some 400 people including 20 gunmen who have crossed over to the Malaysian state of Sabah, the Aquino administration will not revisit the country’s claim to the disputed land. “From what I understand, the claim is there and it hasn’t moved for quite some time. I also remember that the President did mention that it’s been dormant. Let’s leave it at that for the moment,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a briefing. In the 1960s, the Philippine government laid claim over Sabah based on historical and legal data, but later suspended its claim and instead forged close cooperation with its neighbor Malaysian. Valte added that more than any claim over Sabah, the administration is more concerned about the safety of those involved in the standoff. “The main concern really is the safety of the people who are there. So ‘yun po muna ‘yung pinag-uusapan at ‘yung sinesentruhan natin,” Valte said. “[We want] Read More …

DFA asks Kiram group anew to leave Sabah

 News
Feb 182013
 
DFA asks Kiram group anew to leave Sabah

By Tarra Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:39 pm | Monday, February 18th, 2013 DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday reiterated its call for a Filipino armed group holding fort in Sabah to return home peacefully saying the standoff could potentially impact the on-going peace talks in Mindanao and bilateral ties between the Philippines and Malaysia. Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez, the DFA spokesperson, said Philippine officials have been in constant coordination with their Malaysian counterparts in hopes of settling the standoff without bloodshed. “We are endeavoring to have the group leave Lahad Datu peacefully and this remains to be a work in progress in coordination with the Malaysian government. We want this issue to be settled in a peaceful manner,” said Hernandez. “What is important for now is for them to leave that area because this could affect existing issues we have including peace talks and possible bilateral relations,” said the official in a briefing Monday afternoon. The DFA said the government has yet to officially confirm the identity and objectives of the armed group that landed on Sabah’s Lahad Datu district last week. But Sultan Jamalul Kiram had said he sent the group of some 400 people, among them 20 armed men, to establish permanent residence in the area, asserting his family’s ancestral ownership over the land. The DFA further lauded the Malaysian government’s peaceful approach to the dispute.

‘Filipino’ gunmen captured in Malaysia – police

 News
Feb 132013
 
‘Filipino’ gunmen captured in Malaysia – police

1:09 pm | Thursday, February 14th, 2013 KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian security forces have captured a group of “foreigners with firearms” believed to be militants from the southern Philippines, police said on Thursday. State news agency Bernama cited unidentified police sources as saying the group was made up of more than 100 men in military fatigues, but police have not publicly confirmed that report. National police chief Ismail Omar said in a statement late on Wednesday that the gunmen intruded on Malaysian soil in the state of Sabah on Borneo island, a region with a history of incidents involving armed Filipino groups. “This intrusion is a result of the problems in the southern Philippines,” Ismail said in an apparent reference to Muslim insurgents and other lawlessness in the southern Philippines, which lies just across the Sulu Sea from Sabah. Malaysia is predominantly Muslim. Ismail said security forces surrounded and ordered the gunmen to surrender in the Malaysian coastal town of Lahad Datu. His statement made no mention of how many people were involved. “They’ve surrendered, but as for the number, I really have no info for now,” said a police spokesman contacted by AFP on Thursday. Sabah’s eastern tip is less than an hour by speedboat from the nearest Philippine islands. In October, Manila reached a framework agreement with the southern Philippines’ main Muslim separatist group aimed at ending a decades-long insurgency that has left more than 150,000 people dead. In 2000, a Philippine militant group seized 21 mostly Western Read More …

Malaysia in Borneo standoff with armed intruders

 News
Feb 132013
 
Malaysia in Borneo standoff with armed intruders

Associated Press 9:31 am | Thursday, February 14th, 2013 KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian police say an armed group believed to be from the southern Philippines has intruded into Malaysian territory on Borneo island. National police chief Ismail Omar says security forces have surrounded the intruders in the remote coastal district of Lahad Datu in Malaysia’s eastern Sabah state and ordered them to surrender their weapons. Ismail’s statement late Wednesday did not disclose the number of suspects or how they were armed. Sabah is less than an hour by speedboat from the southern Philippines, which has long been wracked by a Muslim separatist insurgency. Ismail said the group landed in Sabah on Tuesday following “troubles in the southern Philippines.” Other police representatives in Kuala Lumpur and Sabah said they could not elaborate beyond the statement.

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