Not right to link Sabah's Bajau, Suluk to Philippine militants

SEMPORNA: Sabah Assistant Finance Minister, Datuk Ramlee Marahaban today hit out at certain quarters for linking the state's Bajau and Suluk communities to the harbouring of southern Philippine militants due to family ties, describing it as inappropriate.
He said any statement with ethnic sentiments over such criminal activity should be deemed unfair and a sensitive issue.
"Logically, any bad action will not be protected although we are from the same community and same religion.
"The criminal activities carried out are the undoings or the responsibility of those involved, and not because of ethnicity and having family ties," he said when met by reporters after a korban event of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) with the Simunul Zone community, here, today in conjunction with Aidilfitri.
He was responding to a national newspaper report, quoting an unnamed source as saying that the militants from the southern Philippines who fled to this country were harboured by their Bajau and Suluk family members who had for long been residing in Sabah.
Ramlee said negative perception and ethnic sentiments should not be roused against the local Bajau and Suluk communities as they were a cultured people too like the other communities.
He added that such allegations as though they were in cahoots with the militants could tarnish their image, whereas these two communities were loyal and struggled for the good of this country.
Meanwhile, Ramlee said ESSCom's main asset in monitoring the security of the country's waters was the people's participation in ensuring its sovereignty.
He said the public should continue cooperating by channelling information to the security forces and to learn lessons from the tragic incident at Kampung Simunul, Semporna (where six policemen were gruesomely killed in an ambush by Filipino militants in March 2013).
Also present at the korban event was ESSCom chief executive officer, Noor Alam Khas A. Wahid Khan.
Noor Alam said so far, the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone) community had been giving good feedback on any programme implemented by ESSCom and involving the local community. — Bernama