The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should give a Ministerial statement in Parliament on Monday on the Esscom security lapses resulting in a Taiwanese tourist shot dead and his wife abducted by suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists on Pom Pom island off Semporna early this morning.
Najib should tell Parliament what actions would be taken by Esscom to tighten security to ensure that such killing and kidnap by Filipino terrorists would not be allowed to recur in Sabah.
Initial reports indicated a group of heavily armed men arrived at the Mandur Pom Pom island resort and stormed into the resort restaurant, where the Taiwanese couple were the only customers and fired several shots.
The victim Lim Min Hsu, 57, was shot twice in the chest and ribs. He died at the scene. His wife, Lim Min Hsu, 57, was taken away by the gunmen who fled in a pump boat towards southern Philippines.
The Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has confirmed this incident saying that it occurred at about 1 am.
The Pom Pom island killing and kidnap of the tourists is a major blow to efforts to restore tourist and public confidence in the security of Sabah after the intrusion of the Sulu terrorists in Lahad Datuk in February.
When launching the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) in April this year, Najib had outlined a four-pronged strategic and technical approach to be taken by Esscom in order to maintain peace and security along 1,400 km of the Sabah’s coastline in the east of Sabah, viz:
• enhancement of intelligence capacity;
• effective coastal surveillance 24-hours a day;
• boosting the country’s capability to intercept incoming threats from the sea; and
• strict enforcement of the law with immediate action taken once the threats reached the shores.
All the Esscom’s four-pronged strategy had been seriously compromised for the tragic, criminal and terrorist Pom Pom island incident to occur, resulting in the killing of a tourist and kidnap of another.
The establishment and the huge allocations for Esscom have not brought peace and security to the East Coast of Sabah, as the three objectives of Esscom set out by the Prime Minister, namely “fully guaranteed security”, “the confidence of the people to return to normal life” and “restoring confidence among tourists” after the Sulu terrorist intrusions in Lahad Datuk appear as remote as ever!
#1 by Godfather on Friday, 15 November 2013 - 7:55 pm
Perhaps those so-called terrorists had malaysian ICs. That’s a valid excuse by the Navy.
#2 by Godfather on Friday, 15 November 2013 - 7:57 pm
And 2014 is visit Malaysia year. The talk big Nazri had better come up with Plan B.
#3 by undertaker888 on Friday, 15 November 2013 - 8:18 pm
How much commission was paid by A$$COME?
#4 by rjbeee on Friday, 15 November 2013 - 9:43 pm
Well you see ….now you get the same rubbish……fat salary….like our govt dept/Local council…..as long the same kind is there nothing will improve……..
#5 by john on Friday, 15 November 2013 - 10:44 pm
Ah Cheat Koc only know how to make himself ‘feel good, look good’ using OUR Money on this – here, is only an over-paid consultant report. After that ( with monies in the pocket) he couldn’t care less like so many other cases and projects, etc., etc,….
#6 by Noble House on Saturday, 16 November 2013 - 3:39 am
Bernama reported today the IGP as telling the public “Don’t take suspicious activities lightly”.
Crime incidents such as the murder of Pahang Islamic Religious Department enforcement head Ahmad Raffli Abdul Malek could have been averted if the community provided timely information to police.
“The incident could have been averted if timely information was given to help us but now after the incident had taken place only then the information is channelled to us,” he said.
Khalid went on to say: “If their neighbours have been behaving suspiciously like only returning home once a week, and even then at night, and there are always many cars parked at a house at night, their suspicions about something not right can be reported to police.”
Now, do you know the real reason why crimes are still rampant in the country? This guy simply amaze me!
#7 by Winston on Saturday, 16 November 2013 - 7:00 am
It looks like there is a backout of news regarding the Eastern Front for a very long time.
Perhaps the alternative oneline news portals should come out with the truth.
At the same time, these portals can also give advisories to the tourists, both local and overseas, about places which should be out of bounds.
#8 by Di Shi Jiu on Saturday, 16 November 2013 - 10:54 am
Mr Lim,
It would seem that the amount of money allocated to ESSCom has been insufficient, probably due to “administrative costs” for the setup of ESSCom.
So, perhaps, ESSCom now needs another allocation for implementing security.
Anyway, you will note that 3 “prongs” of the 4-pronged approach you mentioned above, refer to maritime matters, so ESSCom’s excuse will probably be that the kidnapping happened on land and ESSCom cannot be blamed, you see.
I guess the very first point of Najib’s plan regarding “intelligence capacity” should have been a dead giveaway that very little would be achieved with ESSCom.
#9 by Bigjoe on Saturday, 16 November 2013 - 12:04 pm
OK. Anyone that did not see this coming,.. you are an idiot. Period.