Malaysia: Sultan’s brother flees to Phl

Not true, says Kiram

KUALA LUMPUR – The leader of the Sulu Sultanate’s armed followers battling Malaysian forces in Sabah has fled the territory, contrary to what his own family is claiming.

Malaysian military chief Zulkifeli Zin said intelligence reports showed that Agbimuddin Kiram, younger brother of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, had managed to evade security forces and slip out of Malaysia. Agbimuddin is also called Raja Muda or crown prince.

“(He) has abandoned his men and fled to his homeland,” Zulkifeli was quoted by local media as saying late Friday.

More than 200 followers of the Sulu sultan entered Sabah last month to resurrect long-dormant land claims.

Malaysian forces launched a military assault on March 5 against the group, sending them fleeing from a farming village in Lahad Datu where they had been holed up. The New Straits Times reported that Kiram is believed to have slipped out of the farming area, surrounded by Malaysian security forces, by blending in with the local population before the military attack earlier this month.

Malaysia on Friday asked the Philippine government in a letter to claim the remains of Filipinos killed in clashes in Sabah, the state-run Bernama news agency reported.

“If there is no response in three days, we will go ahead and bury the dead,” Bernama said quoting police commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib of Sabah.

“Security forces have crippled the movement of Sulu terrorists in Sabah, and its leader Agbimuddin Kiram has fled to the Philippines,” Bernama reported on its Twitter account.

Bernama, quoting Hamza, also reported that “security forces have so far detained 97 suspects and 233 people for trying to enter the operation zone of Ops Daulat.”

Hamza said the three-day deadline is based on what is allowed under the Geneva Conventions. As of Friday, the remains of 27 gunmen have been taken out of a plantation in Lahad Datu and “10 more bodies have yet to be brought out of Kampung Tanjung Batu,” Hamza said.

In Manila, sultanate spokesman Abraham Idjirani denied Agbimuddin had fled Sabah. “That’s not true,” he said.

Senior officials of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) described Zulkifeli’s claim as “cheap propaganda.”

“He is still there and we learned from our people in Sabah that Datu Raja Muda is not returning to Sulu if Malaysia will continue to ignore peaceful efforts of the Sulu sultanate to settle the issue in Sabah. That’s propaganda by the Malaysians,” Haji Gapul Hajirul, MNLF political bureau chief, said.

According to the latest police figures, 61 suspected armed followers of Kiram have been killed in Malaysia’s biggest security crisis in years. Eight police officers and a soldier have also died. Authorities have arrested more than 100 people on suspicion of having links to the militants.

The Philippines Navy said on Wednesday it had detained 38 followers of the sultanate as they tried to sail to Sabah to reinforce their comrades.

A total of 800,000 Filipinos live in Sabah, making up about a quarter of the population of the state, which is just a short boat ride from Mindanao.

The crisis has embarrassed the Philippines and Malaysia, shining the spotlight on the latter’s porous shoreline and locals’ complaints of rampant illegal immigration and lawlessness.

Meanwhile, a militant lawmaker said the government appears “not in touch with reality” with its repeated declaration that it has not found evidence of rights abuses committed against Filipinos in Sabah by Malaysian forces.

“We have a crisis in our hands and this problem will not go away by simply denying it. We should insist for more access in the conflict area and do more to safeguard our people in Sabah,” Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares said.

Earlier Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said they had yet to receive documented proof of human rights abuses against Filipinos in Sabah. She had also raised eyebrows when she suggested that displaced Filipinos in Sabah be called balikabayans and not refugees.

“The exodus of thousands of Filipinos from Sabah says a lot, it is in itself the proof that our countrymen are being discriminated upon by the Malaysian authorities. The evacuees who are mostly long-time residents and workers there would not be compelled to go home in such dire circumstances if their situation there is still bearable,” Colmenares said.

The lawmaker also scoffed at Malacañang’s pronouncement that there is no crisis.

“Such pathetic efforts to hide the truth and deodorize the situation manifest the government preoccupation to polish its image for the elections rather than genuinely care for the welfare of our countrymen,” he said.

Laguna Rep. Ma. Evita Arago, for her part, appealed to Malaysian authorities to look into allegations of human rights abuses committed by its troops.

She expressed alarm over reports of Malaysian forces hunting down and shooting to death Filipino children and women, including pregnant women.

She said Filipinos have been living peacefully in Sabah for many years and that “to hunt them down like animals is a despicable act.”

“Filipinos in Sabah, like any nationality, should be treated with respect and accorded humane treatment,” Arago said. Jaime Laude, Paolo Romero