STARSABAH wants serious response to security issues

Datuk Dr.Jeffrey Kitingan

KOTA KINABALU: The Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STARSABAH) is calling for a more serious response to security issues affecting Sabah.

The party’s president, Datuk Dr. Jeffrey G. Kitingan made this call following another case of abduction of 10 fishermen off Lahad Datu on June 18.

The member of parliament for Keningau and assembyman for Tambunan wondred why “So far the prime minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, had not made any comments on the incident. Perhaps he would be more responsive if such abductions happened at the Strait of Malacca.

“This is puzzling because in 2015, when he was in the opposition, he poured scorn on the then prime minister Najib Razak, after two people were kidnapped from a restaurant in sandakan, asking if the newly-purchased government private jet was more important than border security,” Dr. Jeffrey asked. “Mahathir also asked ‘Is it going to stop the kidnapping and casual invasions of Sabah or the smuggling of arms from across the northern border? Or is the security confined to people flying in private jets only?’”

Dr Jeffrey also said the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) has clearly failed to ensure security in the area, saying the area remains porous and still open to penetration by speedboat which was banned but allowed as soon as the Warisan government came into power.

“If one is to look out to the sea from many coastal areas there, one would see an empty sea from one end of the horizon to the other, without any Esscom vessel in sight,” he said. “So how could a pirate speedboat be stopped if it can reach Sabah within 15 minutes from Sitangkai island?

“The minister of defense, Mat Sabu, himself had admitted this weakness when he announced on the first week of May that Esscom would also be restructured to further enhance security on the east coast, promising the acquisition of additional equipment to improve the capability of the security forces under Esscom,

“If the federal government is serious about upgrading security in our east coast, it should be done with a drastic upgrade to a war-readiness level,” he said. “It should then be able to detect moving boats with or without automatic identification system (AIS) by way of satellite detection and move into preventive action in good time. 

“A no-nonsense approach is the only option for the sake of our national security. I agree with Datuk Yong Teck Lee’s questioning of where are the seven battalions promised by the government following the 2013 Lahad Datu intrusion,” he added.

On June 21, SAPP’s president Datuk Yong Teck Lee, stated that “The other priorities that the government needs to boost are the fighter jets based in Tawau and the helicopter forward deployment based in Lahad Datu. It is equally important to set up intelligence gathering , and to have special forces that are capable of conducting surgical strikes at terrorists and cross-border criminal gangs.” 

Dr. Jeffrey, too, wants border criminals to be dealt with decisively with a policy of shoot-on-sight with assault helicopters, because “This longstanding situation should be dealt with a warlike approach it we want it stopped once and for all.

“As to the chief minister’s suggestion to move the Lok Kawi army headquarters to the east coast, I feel what needs to be done instead is to set up a naval base in Lahad Datu since we are dealing with sea, not land, instrusions.”-pr