TENTERA MNLF SIAP SEDIA TUNTUT BELA KEMATIAN TENTERA SULU

Pejuang Barisan Pembebasan Kebangsaan Moro (MNLF) dari Filipina, menuju ke Sabah untuk mengukuhkan kedudukan pengikut Sultan Sulu yang berjuang menentang pasukan keselamatan Malaysia, dakwa seorang pemimpin mereka hari ini.

"Ramai telah meloloskan diri daripada pasukan keselamatan. Mereka sudah mahir dengan kawasan tersebut kerana mereka dilatih di sana pada masa lalu," kata Muhajab Hashim, pengerusi Majlis Perintah Islam MNLF.

"Kami menjangka lebih ramai daripada mereka akan menyertai (pertempuran) walaupun jika arahan rasmi kita adalah supaya mereka mengelak pergi ke sana," katanya.

Beliau tidak pasti berapa ramai pejuang MNLF telah berjaya melepasi
kawalan tentera laut Filipina dan Malaysia, tetapi berkata sebelum ini, "ribuan" telah menyatakan hasrat mereka untuk menyertai kira-kira 200 pengikut kesultanan Sulu, yang diketuai oleh Raja Muda Azzimudie Kiram.

Majlis Perintah Islam MNLF menyelia semua pasukan tentera MNLF, untuk melucutkan senjata sebagai sebahagian daripada perjanjian damai 1996 tetapi tidak dipatuhi sepenuhnya.

Hashim berkata walaupun pemimpin MNLF tidak secara rasmi mengarahkan pengikut mereka belayar ke Malaysia, tetapi mereka menyokong penuh usaha Sultan Sulu menuntut Sabah.

"Pejuang MNLF taat kepada sultan, kita adalah pengikut. Jadi ia lebih daripada satu pakatan," katanya. "Kami menentang keras serangan terhadap saudara kami dari Sulu."

Pasukan keselamatan Malaysia telah melancarkan serangan ofensif besar-besaran semalam selepas tiga minggu pengikut sultan Sulu Jamalul Kiram III berkubu di situ dan keganasan meletus minggu lalu yang mengakibatkan sekurang-kurangnya 27 orang terbunuh.

Tetapi pembantu sultan berkata di Manila bahawa kumpulan Azzimudie terselamat daripada serangan, termasuk serangan udara.

MNLF diasaskan pada tahun 1960-an oleh Nur Misuari yang memperjuangkan untuk wilayah Islam di Mindanao dan pernah mendapat sokongan dari Malaysia. AFP

GAMBAR TENTERA SULU YANG MATI DI BUNUH!

MNLF SUDAH HANTAR TENTERA DAN KOMANDO MEREKA KE SABAH:-SIAP SEDIA TEMPUR TENTERA MALAYSIA

THE crisis in Sabah has turned several towns into battle zones as Malaysia intensified its campaign to drive away armed Filipino intruders.

The crisis took a turn for the worse as the fighting spread to more areas after the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) joined the fray by deploying its combatants to Sabah to support the sultanate of Sulu.

The sultanate had started calling the clashes in Sabah the Sultan Jamalul Kiram Spring, after the Arab Spring, which triggered revolutions and violent protests in several Arab countries in 2010.

According to Abraham Idjirani, the spokesman of sultan Jamalul Kiram 3rd, the fighting between Malaysian forces and members of the Sulu Royal Army has reached Sandakan, Sabah’s second largest city.

“This is the Sultanate Jamalul Kiram Spring. We are doing this in the name of the Filipino people,” Idjirani told reporters.

Idjirani said that as of Sunday, Sandakan has been turned into another battle zone even as the “battle of Semporna” remains at a stalemate.

To prevent further loss of lives, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario flew to Kuala Lumpur on Monday to talk with Malaysian officials and appeal for maximum tolerance for the followers of the sultan.

Seven people were reported killed in a clash in the town of Semporna on Saturday as Malaysian policemen were also pursuing a number of armed intruders in the town of Kunak. Reports said that Semporna has turned into a ghost town after the firefight on Saturday because residents fled the area for fear that they too may be caught in the gun fight.

The MNLF claimed that their men were able to enter Sabah on Sunday.

The group said that reinforcements from Mindanao breached the Malaysian security cordon in Sandakan and ambushed two truckloads of men belonging to the Malaysian Territorial Army Regiment.

“The reinforcements were able to wipe them out,” said Habib Mujahab Hashim, chairman of the MNLF’S Islamic Command Council. Idjirani, however, denied that the Royal Sulu Army is being aided by MNLF fighters.

He claimed that the escalation of violence was an “unorganized, spontaneous uprising” by Filipinos residing in Sabah.
Fighting between the two sides have left 26 people dead since the standoff begun last month.

During the firefight on Saturday, the sultan’s followers captured four Malaysian officials.

Idjirani, however, said that the captives will only be released to representatives of international humanitarian groups.

He explained that the group led by the sultan’s brother, Raja Muda Agbimuddin, refused to release their captives to Sabah officials because they fear that the officials might later end up dead and the sultanate will be blamed for it.

Idjirani also said that the sultan was able to reestablish contact with Raja Muda a day after Malaysian officials shut down cell sites in Lahad Datu.

Appeal
Fearing that the fighting in Sabah will lead to more deaths, del Rosario flew to Kuala Lumpur on Monday to appeal for maximum tolerance for the followers of the sultan.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said that the secretary will meet with Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman “to continue discussions on how to avert further loss of lives.”

Del Rosario will also convey the Philippine government’s request for a full briefing from the Malaysian authorities regarding the situation in Lahad Datu and ask clearance for the Philippine Navy ship, BRP Tagbanua, to proceed to Lahad Datu.

The ship, which was dispatched from Tawi-Tawi province more than a week ago, has medical personnel onboard.

“Ever since the Kiram group landed in Lahad Datu three weeks ago, Secretary del Rosario has been in touch with the Malaysian authorities on a daily basis in search for a peaceful resolution to the situation,” the department said.

Block force
Meanwhile, ground troops and at least 10 Philippine Navy ships have secured the island provinces and islets and the entire sea separating Mindanao from Malaysia to prevent the supporters, followers and members of the so-called Royal Army of Sulu from traveling to Sabah.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Monday explained that the security cordon was implemented to ensure that nobody would be able to cross to Sabah. He denied reports that speedboats and small-motorized vessels have slipped past the closely guarded areas.

Gazmin said that Philippines troops cannot be involved in the flushing out of Filipino intruders in Sabah.

“We cannot get involved. It’s the call of the Malaysian government,” he said.

The President’s directive, he said, is to help the evacuees and at the same time identify those involved in the standoff.

Pinoys return
As the Sabah crisis sizzled, 289 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Malaysia returned home to escape the clashes in Sabah.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said that the workers came home on Sunday.

Baldoz said that she instructed various Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) agencies to assist the returning Filipino workers.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration has been told to assist returnees, who plan to stay in the country for good, by providing reintegration assistance through the National Reintegration Center for overseas Filipino workers.

The reintegration program includes providing job matching and job referral assistance for those who will elect to work in the country; and giving out of livelihood business starter kits for those who wish to engage in businesses.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration had also been instructed to assist the workers who wish to go back to their employers in Malaysia after the situation has normalized.

“The DOLE helped facilitate their smooth arrival, and we are ready with our reintegration programs and other services for other Filipinos, who may decide to return to the country either for good or to wait for the situation to stabilize before returning to Sabah,” the labor chief said.

The Bureau of Immigration also on Monday said that 288 Filipinos were deported from Sabah.

Immigration Intelligence chief Antonette Mangrobang said that they are waiting for an official report from their Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga field office. She said that more Filipinos are expected to return from Malaysia because of the crisis there.

Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific Air flights from Manila to Kota Kinabalu have not been affected by the standoff.

According to Cebu Pacific communications manager MP.Pestano-Fojas, all CEB flights to Kota Kinabalu are normal.

With reports from Johanna M. Sampan, William B. Depasupil and Benjie L. Vergara

JANDA SULTAN SULU:-PEMBERONTAKAN DI SABAH HANYA DRAMA

MANILA, Philippines - The widow of the late Mohd Mahakuttah Kiram, the 34th Sultan of Sulu, believes the fighting in Sabah is mere “drama,” and says it is not part of their game plan to pursue their proprietary rights.

Speaking to reporters yesterday in Makati, Princess Maryam Kiram offered herself as an emissary to the parties concerned, as she has been doing in the past.

“I am confident, after I sat with them to clarify their concern,” she said. “We will be willing to come to the negotiation table to settle all matters for the good of all concerned. A win-win solution can be arrived at.”

Maryam did not elaborate on the “drama,” but said the media are making up stories.

Claiming to represent the sultanate of Sulu, Maryam said she has been in contact with the members of the royal family and that she had set up the Royal House of Sulu Kiram Foundation Inc.

Maryam said she has been talking with Malaysian officials and an agreement was already made regarding the increase of the rent for Sabah.

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“I am now in the process of negotiating some form of compensation from the Malaysian family to help develop their ancestral lands,” she said.

A meeting was called for all the members of the royal family and a Manifesto of Solidarity of Peace of the People of Sulu Archipelago has been signed, she added.

Maryam said the Malaysian government was receptive and they are now preparing a good settlement.

The birth certificates of every member of the Kiram family is already in her possession, she added.

Maryam said she went to Malaysia early this year for the release of the settlement fund.

“The funds were to be in my hands, but the schedule of Jan. 11 was unfortunately not implemented for unknown reason,” she said.

Maryam said the fund was supposed to be deposited in a designated bank with clearance from the Bank of Negara.

PENGASAS MNLF NUR MISUARI BERI AMARAN AKAN HANTAR TENTERA MNLF BANTU SULTAN SULU!

MANILA, Philippines --- Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding Chairman Nur Misuari yesterday appealed to Malaysia to settle the Sabah standoff peacefully and warned that his group will come to the aid of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III’s followers if blood spills.
“I hope they will not harm them. They (Kiram’s followers) are our brothers. If one drop of their blood is spilled, we might be forced to come to their aid,” Misuari said.
“Please don’t touch them, give them a friendly and brotherly treatment,” Misuari appealed.
Misuari was in Zamboanga City yesterday for the MNLF leadership meeting, which he said was attended by some 2,000 leaders from across Mindanao to discuss various issues facing the Bangsamoro people.
When he was in Jolo, Sulu, over the week, Misuari said that what he heard was that the group of the Crown Prince Rajah Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, younger brother of Kiram, crossed the sea to the island because they were allegedly promised to be settled in Sabah by Prime Minister Dato Seri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Addul Razak.

Misuari appealed to the prime minister to exercise prudence in dealing with the people of the sultan.
“This should be handled by cooler heads,” he said, adding it would also be good to await the coming election in April in Malaysia to see who will be the new prime minister.
Misuari also said the group of Rajah Muda could have gone to Sabah to show their impatient over their claim.
Meanwhile, an ally of Kiram appealed to the Malaysian government yesterday to extend a brotherly Islamic tolerance to the Moro group still holed up in Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia.
Abraham Julpa Idjirani, secretary general of the sultanate and spokesperson of Kiram III, spoke with the Manila Bulletin Thursday.
On the news report about a Friday (today) deadline said to have been issued by Malaysia for the group to leave Sabah, he did not respond specifically about it.
Rather, he reiterated that the rajah muda and his followers will not pull out from their journey home to Sabah.
“I just spoke five minutes ago to the aide-de-camp of the crown prince and also with his son. They told me they are doing fine,” said Idjirani at about 2:05 p.m. Thursday.
As he acknowledged the tolerance shown by the government of Malaysia to the Moro group who sailed to Lahad Datu on February 11, in exercise of their proprietary rights over the oil-rich island.
“We want to thank Malaysia for being tolerant to the sultan’s people,” he said.
On the other hand, he appealed to Malaysia for more tolerance to the brother Muslims.
“We appeal to Malaysia to be more patient and prolong their Islamic tolerance to their fellow Muslims,” said Idjirani.
He said in Islam, forcing people to go hungry is un-Islamic, referring to the Malaysia security forces’ blockade of food supply for the rajah muda and his group.
It started Wednesday, he said.
Idjirani said depriving food to people is also a violation of human rights enshrined in the United Nations.
Kiram III sent his brother and their people to Sabah on what they described as a journey home, crossing the sea from Simunul in Tawi-Tawi.
He said they went there peacefully to stay and claim what is rightfully the Sultanate of Sulu’s ancestral domain.
Meanwhile, the Philippine military has deployed at least six ships and an aircraft near the border of the Philippines and Malaysia in what a Navy official describe as an operation to deescalate the tension in the Sabah standoff.
Lieutenant Commander Gregory Favic, spokesman of the Philippine Navy, said they have started conducting the border patrol on February 12, or right after the news of the standoff in Sabah broke out.