Malaysian-trained MNLF fighters join Sulu army
March 5, 2013
A MNLF leader claims that their
forces have a huge arsenal hidden in Sabah's rugged terrain.
MANILA:
Malaysian security forces are now facing battle-tested, Malaysian-trained
commanders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), who know Sabah like
the palm of their hands.
Hadji Acmad Bayam, former chief
propagandist of the MNLF, revealed this yesterday to the Manila Bulletin,
adding that these MNLF forces may have at their disposal a huge arsenal, which
they hid deep in Sabah’s rugged terrain when they returned to the Philippines
after their rigid training.
Among the firearms are Belgian-made
G1 and FAL, which the late Libya leader Colonel Moammar Gadaffi supplied
through Malaysia.
Bayam said he was confident the
Malaysian authorities were not able to find the hidden MNLF firearms because
they were kept very well by the MNLF commanders who stayed behind in Sabah.
During that training, Malaysian
military trainors even joked about the firearms at the MNLF training camp on
Jampiras Island, off Sabah, as they turned over Gadaffi’s weapons’ supply.
“We are not even sure if the
firearms we are giving you will not be turned against,” the Malaysian trainors
had said in a jest.
“Well, speaking of self-fulfilling
prophecy,” Bayam said, recalling the jokes of the Malaysian trainors.
Now, Filipinos in Sabah, who are not
part of the forces of the Sultanate of Sulu, have already joined the fighting
in reaction to what they perceived as Malaysian “atrocities” for killing Imam
Maas and his four sons at 7:50 p.m. Saturday.
He recalled that Malaysia’s
leadership had even suspected the then chief minister of Sabah, Tun Mustapha, a
Tausug from Sulu, of “conspiring” with MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari to secede the
oil-rich island.
“You know, if Mindanao is to Manila,
Sabah is to Kuala Lumpur,” said Bayam, explaining that Mindanao and Sabah are
the “milking cows” of the Philippines and Malaysia, respectively, for their
rich natural resources.
Bayam, who yielded to then President
Fidel V. Ramos, stayed in Sabah, Malaysia, for nine years before the peace
talks with the Ramos administration in 1993.
Bayam stayed in Sabah on-and-off, in
1976-79, in 1980-1986, among other dates.
Breaching the
blockades
Further, he said many of the
seasoned rebel commanders and rank-and-file members chose to remain on Sabah
island to live there.
Majority of them are from Sulu,
Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga Peninsula, but there are also Maguindanaons, Iranons, and
probably Maranaos, he said.
A few days ago, he said one of the
MNLF foreign-trained commanders belonging to the Top 90 Batch, told him that he
was enlisting Tausug warriors and others for reinforcement to the Royal
Security Force (RSF) of the Sultanate of Sulu.
“I was trying to contact him yesterday
but his phone cannot be reached anymore. I guess he was able to penetrate the
Malaysian and Philippine sea-borne blockades in their respective borders.
Bayam described the commander “as
soft-spoken but firm and true leader-fighter in actual shooting war.” However,
he requested that the commander’s name be not made public.
Last Sunday, Abraham J Idjirani,
spokesman of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, said 40 people from Basilan, Sulu,
Tawi-Tawi, and Zamboanga Peninsula breached the blockades and reached Lahad Datu,
Sabah, scene of the standoff that erupted into a firefight.
He said there are many others who
are now trying to go to Sabah and help the sultan’s followers led by Rajah Muda
Agbimuddin Kiram.
Bayam said that with the way the
situation in Sabah is going on, he sees no turning back. -Agencies
