Sabah is under seige!

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

http://news.yahoo.com/malaysia-attacks-filipinos-occupying-borneo-town-111604600.html

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia unleashed airstrikes and mortar attacks Tuesday on nearly 200 Filipinos occupying a Borneo coastal village but could not declare an immediate end to a three-week siege that has turned into a security nightmare for both Malaysia and the Philippines.

The assault follows clashes this past week that killed eight Malaysian police officers and 19 Filipino gunmen, including members of a Muslim clan that shocked Malaysia and the neighboring Philippines by slipping past naval patrols last month and storming the obscure village in Borneo's eastern Sabah state.

The clansmen, armed with rifles and grenade launchers, had refused to leave the area, staking a long-dormant claim to Malaysia's entire state of Sabah, which they insist is their ancestral birthright.

The crisis has sparked worries of a spread of instability in Sabah, which is rich in timber and oil resources. Other armed Filipinos are feared to have slipped into other districts in the area recently.

As dusk approached, many hours after fighter jets were deployed in the morning, national police chief Ismail Omar said police and military personnel were still hunting for Filipinos in an area of about 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles) that includes rough terrain and plantation land.

"We believe there are still enemies in the area," Ismail said. He said authorities "hope they have not escaped," but refused to provide details about any captives or casualties.

Ismail said the ground forces encountered resistance from gunmen firing at them, but Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said no injuries occurred among Malaysian police or military personnel.

Prime Minister Najib Razak defended the offensive, saying Malaysia had made every effort to resolve the siege peacefully since the group's presence in Lahad Datu district became known on Feb. 12, including holding talks to encourage them to leave without facing any serious legal repercussions.

"For our sovereignty and stability, we will not allow even an inch of Malaysian territory to be threatened or taken by anyone," Najib said.

The Filipinos who landed in Lahad Datu, a short boat ride from the southern Philippines, say Sabah belonged to their royal sultanate for more than a century. The group is led by a brother of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III of the southern Philippine province of Sulu.

Abraham Idjirani, a spokesman for the Filipinos, told reporters in Manila that the group would not surrender and that their leader was safe.

Idjirani said he spoke by phone with Kiram's brother, who saw jets dropping two bombs on a nearby village that the group had abandoned.

"They can hear the sounds of bombs and the exchange of fire," Idjirani said. "The truth is they are nervous. Who will not be nervous when you are against all odds?"

He said they will "find a way to sneak to safety."

"If this is the last stand that we could take to let the world know about our cause, then let it be," Idjirani said, describing the assault as "overkill."

Malaysian officials said they were taking no chances with public safety, sealing off areas within about 30 kilometers (20 miles) of the village and refusing to allow journalists in.

The Philippine government had urged Malaysia to exercise maximum tolerance to avoid further bloodshed.

In Manila, presidential spokesman Ricky Carandang said Tuesday that Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario was in Kuala Lumpur meeting with his Malaysian counterpart.

"We've done everything we could to prevent this, but in the end, Kiram's people chose this path," Carandang said.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman told the TV3 station that Malaysia regards the Filipino group as "terrorists" who have committed "atrocities and brutalities." Officials are studying what laws could be invoked against them, Anifah said, adding that Manila should also take legal action against Kiram.

Some in Muslim-majority Malaysia had called for patience in handling the Lahad Datu group. But after the Filipinos fatally shot two Malaysia policemen on Friday and six other personnel were ambushed and killed by other Filipino assailants while inspecting a waterfront village in a separate district on Saturday, the Malaysian government declared the time for talk was over.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III went on national TV twice this past week to urge the Filipino group to lay down its arms, warning the situation could imperil about 800,000 Filipino settlers in Sabah.

Some activists say border security and immigration policies must be revamped for Sabah, where hundreds of thousands of Filipinos have headed in recent decades — many of them illegally — to seek work and stability.

Malaysia has repeatedly intensified its naval patrols, but the long and porous sea border with the Philippines remains difficult to guard.

The crisis could have wide-ranging political ramifications in both countries. Some fear it might undermine peace talks brokered by Malaysia between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the main Muslim rebel group in the southern Philippines.

It might also affect voter sentiment in a Malaysian general election that must be held by the end of June. Najib needs strong support from voters in Sabah to fend off an opposition alliance that hopes to end more than five decades of federal rule by his National Front coalition.

[X Factor 1,112]

They can't get independence. There is already an Island with almost similar name - Saba

Seriously, what's wrong with these people?

[^_^ 5,021]

(Reuters) - Malaysian security forces said they had killed 13 suspected Philippine militants as they expanded their hunt for an elusive armed group on Borneo island on Wednesday, a day after an assault with fighter jets, mortars and hundreds of troops.

The nearly month-long confrontation in Sabah state, in Malaysia's part of Borneo, was sparked when the armed group of about 200 sailed from the nearby southern Philippines to press an ancient claim to the resource-rich region.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/06/us-malaysia-philippines-idUSBRE92508520130306

[Caryh 5,206]

I like how they say they're there to protect the Filipinos that live there. They weren't in danger until those troops arrived.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I like how they say they're there to protect the Filipinos that live there. They weren't in danger until those troops arrived.

They're trying to prevent more bloodshed. I posted this about 3 days ago, they should merge these two.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

They can't get independence. There is already an Island with almost similar name - Saba

Seriously, what's wrong with these people?

My in-laws are giving us the play by play. They need to surrender before any more lives are lost. If that land truly belongs to them, there is a legal way to do it without killing people.

[Karee 4,191]

They're trying to prevent more bloodshed. I posted this about 3 days ago, they should merge these two.

Click report at the bottom left of this post. Send a message to the mods about merging the two threads.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Click report at the bottom left of this post. Send a message to the mods about merging the two threads.

Done, thanks.

[Caryh 5,206]

They're trying to prevent more bloodshed. I posted this about 3 days ago, they should merge these two.

I was referring to things the Sultan of Sulu's troops have been saying. Guess I should have been more clear. We get Filipino television and watch the news pretty much daily. I'm surprised the Malaysian government has shown as much restraint as they have. Lets bring in troops and arms, start making claims of owning the land and being its ruler, then say we need to protect the people when gun fire erupts.

I don't see what you posted, do you have the link? oops never mind, found it. Must have been blind

Edited March 6, 2013 by Caryh

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I was referring to things the Sultan of Sulu's troops have been saying. Guess I should have been more clear. We get Filipino television and watch the news pretty much daily. I'm surprised the Malaysian government has shown as much restraint as they have. Lets bring in troops and arms, start making claims of owning the land and being its ruler, then say we need to protect the people when gun fire erupts.

I don't see what you posted, do you have the link?

Here is the link: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/417908-sabah-is-under-seige/

Gotcha, that was my chain of thought. My wife has been talking to her parents since this started this weekend. I've talk to them as well trying to get some sense on what's happening. If the land truly belongs to them, they should have gone through the proper channels before bum rushing the island with guns and grenade launchers. My bapa said they were trying to do it sensibly since Muslims have that stigma about violence. But since I believe over 30 people have been killed, they are trying to end it quickly. A state of emergency was just called yesterday so hopefully they can close this thing out without more deaths.

[Caryh 5,206]

My in-laws are giving us the play by play. They need to surrender before any more lives are lost. If that land truly belongs to them, there is a legal way to do it without killing people.

The Sultanate of Sulu has been gone for hundreds of years. There might still be a ceremonial head of the peoples, in fact more than one make that claim, but it doesn't make it a country.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

The Sultanate of Sulu has been gone for hundreds of years. There might still be a ceremonial head of the peoples, in fact more than one make that claim, but it doesn't make it a country.

My wife was just breaking that down for me. There are certain names that can make that claim, but he is not on the list or even related to someone that is.

[Ban Hammer 13,594]

Done, thanks.

and done

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

and done

Thanks Charles.

[Caryh 5,206]

My in-laws are giving us the play by play. They need to surrender before any more lives are lost. If that land truly belongs to them, there is a legal way to do it without killing people.

Look at the conflict in Mindanao. These are the people and tactics Malaysia is now dealing with. Make peace with them, and part of them will splinter off and renew the conflict. The armed MNLF splintered off to create the armed MILF after peace was made. MILF is almost at peace and it already has a new armed splinter group, I forget their name though. MNLF, MILF fighters and other terrorist groups have long jumped over to Sabah to hide when things got tough on them in the Philippines. Even if Malaysia boots them now, they'll be back and probably with more support from the MILF and other groups in Mindanao and the Sulu islands.