Untuk Edisi Melayu
Sila ke laman Polong Cyber:
Minda Rakyat
Oleh : M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my
The Sipadan kidnap stand-off could not be resolved until millions of US
dollars were paid in ransom. Despite the denials, the four-month long
tortuous negotiations involved money, lots of it. The European countries
wanted their citizens out unharmed, and that they would be prepared to pay
to get them out was clear: their diplomat representatives in Kuala Lumpur
were in no doubt they would be. Malaysia had an assistant minister and a
former Sabah chief minister on hand along with sundry others, their role
widely believed to involve paying ransom. Officially, of course, they
would not pay, but when Libya came in at the tail end, when negotiations
were at an impasse, and offered to put up the sums demanded to get them
out, it left the countries off the hook. Barely a day after the last
victim was released, when the pirates struck again, this time seizing
three Malaysians from Pulau Pandanan, off the coast of Semporna; eleven
others fled into the jungle. The wide open seas in the area is barely
patrolled, and pirates can strike at random, unbeknownst to the
authorities. The officials have no clue where the men were.
The Abu Sayyaf kidnappers played their cards well, raising the ante
until the first European country cracked and agreed to pay. But it was a
dangerous precedent. Both Manila and Kuala Lumpur now admit that the
kidnaps were finally motivated. The Philippines spokesman Ronaldo Zamora
said "the more you pay in ransom the more you pay in kidnapping". The
Malaysian deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,
believes it could be "financially motivated". The waters around Sabah,
especially in the area off Semporna, is breeding ground for pirates, who
can hit-and-run with remarkable agility, with little threat from police or
military reaction. The presence of a half-million Filipinos in Sabah,
mostly from the southern Mindanao area and its environs, mostly Moslems,
adds a security element which if all but officially ignored. The Sipadan
kidnap is widely believed to have been a political show of force in which,
Sabah sources say, involved the Mindanao governor, Mr Nur Misuari, and
Malaysian politicians. It backfired.
The latest kidnapping therefore is more serious and dangerous. The
security element is not addressed. Could this have been a tit-for-tat for
something the Sabah government which restricted these pirates and their
relatives to land or otherwise reside in Sabah? It was alleged at one
time the Sipadan kidnap was a Mindanao show of force for Malaysians
expelling illegals residents in the state. The Philippines allege there
is more to the Sipadan kidnap than is revealed, that there was some
official collusion in that a retired lieutenant general had a key role in
the Sipadan kidnap. A few more high profile kidnaps like this, and one
can write off the area as a tourist destination. Security in the area can
be ensured only if the three governments involved -- Malaysia, Indonesia,
Philippines -- jointly patrol the seas. That is not possible, since
Indonesia and Malaysia are locked in a dispute now before the World Court
over who owns Sipadan and Litigan islands; Philippines-Malaysia ties are
strained by the continued Manila claim for Sabah. Since Manila believes
the three kidnapped Malaysians are now in an island off Jolo, with a
cordon now in place, Kuala Lumpur is embroiled in yet another kidnap in
which it can do little but to pay off whatever ransom is
demanded. Especially, when bilateral ties are so frosty.
M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my
