Filipino evacuees from Sabah seek refuge inside a temporary shelter upon arrival at the port of Bongao, in the island-province of Tawi-Tawi, some 180km from the Malaysian town of Lahad Datu, southern Philippines yesterday.
DPA/Kuala Lumpur
Nearly 3,000 people have fled their homes as Malaysian troops widened their hunt for a Philippine sultan’s followers who intruded into the eastern state of Sabah last month to claim the land, a police source said yesterday.
The refugees came from eight villages in Lahad Datu, 1,600 kilometres east of Kuala Lumpur, which has been the centre of military operations since March 1, he said.
“The evacuees are housed in three evacuation centres,” the source who requested anonymity said. “We have enough food and medicine to take care of them.”
He said most schools in Lahad Datu opened yesterday except those in areas where the police and military operations were being conducted.
“Shops are all open for business,” he said. “Of course, people are still worried about the conflict. We really hope this will end soon.”
Nearly 1,000 Filipino migrants from Sabah have also fled to their hometown in the southern Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi amid fears of being caught in the middle of the conflict.
“We were afraid that the Malaysians would take their anger out on us,” said a 27-year-old mother of four who arrived early yesterday.
Lena, who declined to give her full name for fear of reprisals, said she worked in a shopping centre in Sandakan and had been living there with her family for the past four years.
Nurhida Sabita, 29, braved eight hours of travel in a small wooden boat from Semporna to reach Tawi-Tawi. She shared the boat with her two small children and 12 other adults.
“It’s dangerous to stay there, the police might conduct a crackdown and I don’t have proper documents,” she said.
An estimated 800,000 Filipinos are residing and working in Sabah, which is about an hour by boat from the Philippines’ southernmost provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. The crisis started February 12 when more than 200 followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III set up camp in the village of Tanduo in Lahad Datu to assert their ancestral claim to Sabah.
The sultanate leased the land in 1878 to the British North Borneo Co, which then passed it to Malaysia after Malaysia’s independence. Kuala Lumpur currently pays the sultan 5,300 ringgit ($1,680) per year in rent.
Sabah police chief Hamza Taib said 54 Filipino gunmen have been killed in fighting between Malaysian forces and Kiram’s followers since March 1. Eight police commandos and a teenage boy have also been killed in the clashes.
Hamza said 97 people have been detained on suspicion of supporting the invaders and 125 were detained for entering the conflict zone.
The Philippine government on Sunday expressed concern over reports of human rights violations as Malaysian forces allegedly rounded up residents of Filipino descent in Sabah. Hamza denied allegations of mistreatment.
Malaysian police clear remote village, gunman killed
Malaysian police said yesterday they had cleared a remote village at the heart of a month-long incursion by Filipino activists as another gunman was killed, raising the toll in the crisis to 63.
But the remaining followers of a self-styled Philippine Sultan were still being hunted in a neighbouring village and surrounding farmland a week after Malaysia sent in the army to root them out.
The armed group landed on the coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island early last month in a bizarre bid to assert the “sultan’s” historical claim to the areas. Surrounded by security forces, they dug in for a standoff in the sleepy village of Tanduo amid vast palm oil plantations until a deadly shootout prompted a military attack that scattered the militants. Sabah state police chief Hamza Taib said security forces had now secured Tanduo but were pursuing the remaining fighters in the village of Tanjung Batu and surrounding areas. He added that another gunman was shot in Tanjung Batu on Sunday, bringing to 54 the number of militants killed in Malaysia’s worst security crisis in years. Eight police officers were killed in earlier shootouts and security forces also shot dead a teenager at the weekend. It has not been made clear whether the teen was a local or one of the militants. Supporters of Manila-based Jamalul Kiram III, whose supporters call him the heir to the defunct southern Philippine sultanate of Sulu, have said about 235 people took part in the mission. The incursion has created a delicate situation for the two neighbours, with Manila under pressure to prevent the deaths of the Philippine nationals, while Malaysian public sentiment has strongly back the tough army action.
Hamza also said the number arrested in Sabah since the incursion began grew to 97 with 12 new arrests. Police have said those arrested had suspected links to the incursion, but have provided no details.