Battle for Sabah moves to cyberspace

MANILA, Philippines - Supporters of the Sultanate of Sulu claiming ownership of a Malaysian state took their campaign to cyberspace yesterday, manipulating Google search listings to show a message backing the incursion.

A Google search for the word “Sabah,” the state at the center of Malaysia’s biggest security crisis in years, came back with a search results page that quotes Wikipedia calling Malaysian control of the state “illegitimate.”

“Sabah is illegitimately considered one of the 13 member states of Malaysia, and is said to be its easternmost state but in fact, it is part of the sultanate of Sulu,” the passage read, shown in a box previewing the Wikipedia entry for Sabah.

Malaysians have been shocked by the militant incursion, which began when an estimated 100 to 300 people landed on the shores of Sabah on Feb. 12, claiming the state for the heir to a former Philippine sultanate.

The website of Stamford College in Malaysia (http://www.stamford.edu.my/) was hacked by a certain “Kismet-07” of the hacktivitist group Anonymous Cebu. The website was back to normal by 1 p.m.

In the message posted on the website, the hacker warned the Malaysian government not to do “what China is doing at this time.”

“Time has come to reclaim what is truly ours,” the statement read. “Sabah is owned by the Philippines, you illegally claiming it (sic).”

“Even if you look at the history of Sabah, Philippines is the owner of it,” it added.

The hacker warned Malaysia against hacking Philippine websites, “or else we will continue attacking your cyber world.”

“You started the fire. We will end it with dust,” the hacker said.

Philippine news portals have said a number of sites in the country were hit by pro-Malaysia hackers.

The hacking incident occurred days after the tension in Sabah escalated as supporters of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III refused to leave the disputed territory.

Defacing of websites has become a common occurrence in Philippine cyberspace. Government websites had been hacked following the passage of the anti-cybercrime law.

Chinese websites were also defaced by supposed Filipino hackers over the territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea. Janvic Mateo