The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s response yesterday to the Mabul attack by Sulu terrorists when he visited Sabah on Saturday night, resulting in the killing of a policeman and abduction of another, is not only too little, too late but also smacks of a cover-up.

Najib’s order to the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) to review the security system along the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) to be more detailed so that it cannot be penetrated by enemies should have been his first directive when Esscom was established after the Lahad Datuk incursions in April last year and not after 15 months of its establishment chalking up a disastrous catalogue of murders, abductions and violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sabah and Malaysia by Filipino terrorists.

Sabahans can still remember Najib’s boast at Esscom’s launch that Esscom was “the fastest decision made in the history of Malaysia in terms of creating posts in any government agency” but it has proved to be the most costly and unproductive of all government decisions, in terms of human lives, bad international image for the country, economic costs and public expenditures, resulting in a rare show of unity by Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat Members of Parliament denouncing the ineptitude of Esscom and even demanding its abolition and replacement by a more effective security high command structure in Sabah. Read the rest of this entry »