Probe Umno links to Sulus
| March 12, 2013
The bigger fear among Umno leaders
is that any drastic military action would have destroyed the reservoir of
potential voters among the Filipinos with Malaysian Identity Cards.
COMMENT
He said: “At first we did not think
the intrusion was as an external threat for they [Sulu gunmen] were on our
shore. But now that it is clear that the invasion is an attack from outside,
the military was ordered to move in.”
Since this was an invasion by a
group of foreign nationals threatening the safety of our country and citizens,
the army should have stepped in from the very begining.
Why was the Malaysian government
dilatory in dealing with the Sulu invaders?
Mahathir claims the government
“acted cautiously” because the intruders were Muslims.
But the likelihood is greater that
the bigger fear among Umno leaders was that drastic military action would have
destroyed the reservoir of potential voters among the Filipinos with Malaysian
Identity Cards, beneficiaries of Mahathir’s “Project IC” in Sabah.
To unleash our military might would
be to destroy a fixed deposit that has kept Umno-Barisan Nasional in power here
for decades.
What perhaps is needed now is an
investigation into the links between the Sulu intruders and Umno.
Investigate the story that the
invaders were invited to Lahad Datu by Umno members.
Investigate the tale that one Umno
local leader is related to the Sultan of Sulu and that he had lost a court
battle with Felda and was miffed enough to ask the Sultan of Sulu to come to
Lahad Datu to reclaim land taken by Felda.
Some local quarters have claimed
that the Umno leader was given 15 acres of land and a contract to cut and
collect palm oil fruits from the entire Felda schemes in Lahad Datu.
Investigate, too, claims by some
parties that it was Umno president and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak who had
invited these Sulu men to Lahad Datu.
Najib was quick to say that
investigations will be made to ascertain whether there were links between the
Sulu invaders and opposition leaders, especially Anwar Ibrahim.
This same quickness and fairness
must be extended to probing Umno’s links with the Sulu intruders.
The writer is a former Umno state
assemblyman but has now joined DAP. He is a FMT columnist.
