Thursday, 07 March 2013 16:41
DEAD MEN DON'T TALK? Zahid's 'destroy' comment, Misuari's allegation, Najib's 'promise'
An overly
aggressive response from Malaysia's defense Minister Zahid Hamidi to a call
from both the Sulu Sultan and UN chief Ban Ki-moon for a ceasefire has sparked
even hotter negative speculation against the government of embattled Prime
Minister Najib Razak.
In a Twitter posting, Zahid had
vowed that for the welfare of Sabah and all Malaysians, every single Filipino
militant in the Sulu army should be “destroyed”.
“Call for unilateral ceasefire not
accepted by Malaysia except if militants surrender without condition,” posted
Zahid.
“Do not believe the offer for
ceasefire by Jamalul Kiram. For the good of Sabah citizens and all Malaysians,
destroy all militants first,” he said in another posting.
Dead men don't talk?
But
not only did Zahid's comments raise the mercury in the already boiling-hot
debacle for his Umno ruling party, it spurred further concern that the Najib
administration was trying to cover up an allegation raised by Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF) founding Chairman Nur Misuari.
Misuari was reported as telling the
Manila Bulletin that he had heard Agbimuddin Kiram, the leader of the
gunmen who had invaded Malaysia's Lahad Datu, had "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".
“This should be handled by cooler
heads,” said Misuari, adding it would also be good to await the coming election
in April in Malaysia to see who will be the new prime minister.
Death toll still climbing
Lahad Datu is the coastal village in
East Malaysian Sabah state where a group of some 200 men claiming to be members
of the Royal Army of the Sulu Sultanate had landed some three weeks ago.
Najib's lax response and slow
reaction to the intrusion had already sparked speculation that he was trying to
make use of the incident to stir up patriotic sentiments to benefit his
coalition ahead of a general election widely expected to be called within
weeks.
Nonetheless, due to public pressure,
Najib was forced to resort to physical means to evict in the intruders, who had
refused to leave after a February 22 deadline expired.
On March 1, Malaysian police tried
to raid the village where the gunmen were hiding. The offensive resulted in 14
deaths, 2 of which were Malaysian policemen. It also sparked a revenge killing
and on the following day, another violent skirmish broke out in Semporna, leaving
another 12 dead. This time, six of those killed were Malaysian policemen.
As national anger and fears of
prolonged hostilities rose, Najib gave the go-ahead to a joint military and
police offensive on Tuesday, March 5. No firepower was spared, with F18 and
Hawk fighter jets deployed to bomb the area. The death toll is still climbing
as the Malaysian authorities continue their search for bodies.
A need for greater
honesty and transparency
Caught in the crossfire of
conspiracy theories, Opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim has called for calm and
demanded transparency from the Najib administration.
"A lot of questions remain...
was there some negotiations prior to that ... this is a problem that arises
because you try to censor the media," Anwar told a press conference on
Wednesday.
"There is a huge disconnect on
what is reported here and what is reported in the Philippines. What Umno wants
to do is to portray the Opposition leaders as having complicity in the
aggression.
"But the point is, it's
pathetic to have a national problem, a national security problem and you have
the Umno leaders, Umno media trying to deflect (attention from) their own
incompetence, their slow reaction, the failure of the prime minister and the
minister of defense to even come out with a simple statement," he added,
urging for a parliamentary roundtable on the intrusion.
Anwar also gave his take on the
situation to the Philippine Inquirer in a 4-part radio interview
(scroll below and click to listen).
The 64-year-old Anwar, widely touted
to become the country's next prime minister, had been accused by Najib's Umno
party of having 'masterminded' the intrusion. He responded by slapping two
RM100 million lawsuits against the Umno media for the allegations.
The Sulu Sultanate has denied any
links with the Malaysian Opposition.
RADIO INTERVIEW: CLICK
INTO THE LINKS TO LISTEN
Malaysia Chronicle
