They approached our shores a couple of days before Valentines. It is now a day after Chap Goh Mei, 25th February. Two weeks have passed and the men clad in military outfits allegedly from the South of Philippines claiming to represent the Sultan of Sulu are still in Sabah.
The leader of the pact is none other than Jamalul Kiram III, but the head of the group who has gone into Lahad Datu is his younger brother, Agbumiddin Kiram. Jamalul has said that his men will remain in Sabah for 'as long as necessary' in their bid to reclaim the state. It would not take one too much time to understand, albeit on paper, what their motive is. To reclaim Sabah. From my understanding, Malaysia pays the now defunct Sultan of Sulu a 'token' due to a longstanding deal agreed with the North Borneo Company. However, Sabah, since 1963, has been a part of Malaysia.
The media reports suggest that the Malaysian Government, or whoever is calling the shots in this now embarrassing situation, that we have been in negotiations with the 'army from the Sultanate of Sulu' for quite a while. The initial deadline for them to 'end the show' was the 22nd of February but it is now three days past that deadline.
These men are foreigners and according to their leader, Agbumiddin Kiram who was quoted as saying that 'we have M-14s and M-16s', the government's stance is to negotiate with them. However, the baffling fact is that we deported an elected member of the Senate from Australia not even 2 weeks ago because he supported the move to clean the Malaysian Electoral System. Also, he was shunted aside because some people felt he was in support of the opposition and that there was an element of bias present.
28th of April 2012, a day when ordinary people clad not in military uniforms, but merely yellow and green t-shirts in support of 'Free and Fair Elections and also a rejection of the setting up of nuclear plants in Malaysia were subject to physical abuse. Even the members of the media were not spared! Do you see the stark contrast in both situations? The treatment of Citizens of Malaysia versus gunmen from another country? Three hundred thousand people were not shown mercy but just over one hundred men are allowed to enroach into the boundary of Malaysia and we are still negotiating.
I still cannot get to terms that Malaysians are not given the treatment foreigners are given. Something has to change, and quickly. Gunmen are allowed to roam free while people who gathered at the 'Dataran Merdeka' were abused. People who were born and bred in Malaysia face utter difficulty in getting a blue identity card but those who come in via the 'back door' just have to fork out a sum of money and voila, as proven by the Royal Commission of Inquiry in Sabah. We have to change.........now
Jay Jay Denis
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