The Lahad Datu Incursion
Hocksiew Ong
THE LAHAD DATU INCURSION
AN IMPACT OF IMMENSE PROPORTIONS
Let me begin with the story of the Woman and the Alligator.
This woman in the Everglades of Florida one day found a small baby Alligator in her yard. “It was just so cute,” she thought. She also concluded that having it in her small pond by the side of her house would be good as it would keep away the rodents and the toads that came frequently to ruin her vegetable patch.
Everyday she would dutifully feed the Alligator and each day when she came to the pond, the Alligator would swim up to her and eat from her hands. The Alligator grew and grew and soon became a full-fledged adult Alligator. Now the woman also had a “guard” who provided security from external threats. One day, she brought food just like all the other times that she had since the Alligator was small. Just as she was feeding her ‘friendly’ pet, the Alligator lunged up and snapped his jaws on her hand. After a long struggle, her whole hand was bitten off.
Isn’t the story familiar? Malaysia has found to her own consternation that by giving ICs and ‘welcome’ to the Suluks in Sabah, she has created her own Alligator. Whoever has been the Mastermind behind such this move all these years is guilty of treason!! The Alligator has now grown and has concluded that the pond is its own home. Worse the Alligator is bringing other Alligators to where it thinks is its home.
The problem of the Suluks in Sabah now is no longer an incursion by a group of rogues and bandits. It is a claim of their birthright and has far-reaching consequences. The whole issue is now threatening to spill over into a far bigger conflict. Nur Misuari whom the Malaysian Government has gone out of the way to help has warned the Malaysian Government that if his ‘brothers’ are harmed, he would have no choice but to also respond. Nur Misuari is an experienced Insurgent and has fought the Philippine Government for years. His men are experts in guerrilla warfare and his threat is not just empty talk. This external threat is very real and must be responded to.
Remember also that Sabah has probably Suluks that number in the hundreds of thousands all over the state. It is not only an external threat that we are talking about – it is also about a huge internal threat that may fester. Interestingly, the Suluks are fearless and ask any native Sabahan and they will tell you to stay away from the Suluks because their “angin” is very strong and crazy. This internal threat may rise up in unison as well because many of the Suluks who are living on the borderline have nothing to lose really.
The Government is in a quandary. The baby Alligator it has fed all these years is now threatening to bite off her arms. The decision is no longer one that the army or police can make. It is one that only the political masters can make as the repercussions are far and wide. One thing is for sure! Every right thinking Sabahan now will want to vote out the Government for the treacherous way it has dealt with the situation all these years. “Welcome the Suluks – let them vote for us” is the horror story that has come back to haunt them.
If the Government does nothing, every Sabahan in the East coast states of Sabah will suffer and it will be a long-drawn problem. The whole socio-economic scenario will change. The Suluks will want land and money and a personal fiefdom to be established. Which right-thinking Government will give in to such demands? The option here is to attack and wipe off this initial band of Suluk Intruders. If this is done, it will probably open a whole new “wound” and many bands may come off the seas off Sabah and attack all over the impossibly long coastline.
This is really the time to send the controversial Scorpene submarines and all the highly-touted wasrships and armaments that Malaysia has spent so much money to buy to the East coast of Sabah to provide the deterrent. Unfortunately with all the corruption and controversy behind the items, there is a nagging doubt if the equipment would not break down somewhere before they reach their destinations. After all that is the open-sea and back-up technicians and equipment would find delivery extremely difficult. So much for the highly vaunted defence equipment that the Government has spent billions to buy. Are submarines suitable to deal with the thousands of Suluk pumpboats? Imagine looking out of your periscope and seeing hundreds of little dots. So which one are you going to shoot at? One torpedo for one little 18 feet pumpboat? The torpedo will probably miss too as the homing devise cannot latch onto wood.
So how will all this end? It is now a situation of being caught between the “devil and the deep-blue sea”. Either way, the Government is caught in a “no win” situation. It created the Alligator and now it has to finish off the Alligator. Easily said but unfortunately unlike the story, there are scores more of Adult Alligators waiting to also attack.
There is no way the Intruders or ‘Claimants’ which might better describe them would back off. They are not just some old guard holding antique rifles as was first stated by no less than our Police chiefs who in their “ivory castles” think that they have total control over the situation. How embarrassing to note such incompetence from the highest ranks in the Police force?
What now?? Should the army be involved? This is a stupid question – the sovereignty of Malaysia is now under threat and “kid glove’ treatment is still being pushed. How many more police and soldiers would have to die before they realize the real gravity of the situation? How many more widows would have to be created before they know that there is really only one option when the country’s sovereignty is at stake!!!
Race and religion has no place in this equation. For the politicians to talk of reasoned approaches is outright craziness! In Pakistan yesterday, a bomb was detonated with huge casualties. From the religious standpoint, this was carried out by ‘brothers’. Will the victims now say, “Oh! they are our religious brothers, let us not do anything and welcome and look after the Bombers and their friends well.” I am dumbfounded when I hear of such talk. The Alligator only knows one thing – to bite whoever comes close enough!
In the Lahad Datu, the answer is so obvious. The present incursion is like a gangrenous wound. If you don’t cut off the small wound now, like the Woman in the Alligator story, a whole limb might have to go later. There is little other option – action has to be taken sooner or later. Otherwise Malaysia will have to compromise its sovereignty and a small corner of “Sulukland” will have to be excised to accommodate them. This will be a move of dangerous proportions. One day, the Suluks might say it is time and all over Sabah, Suluks may rise up in unison to take over Sabah and every other Sabahan of Filipino descent might join them.
Then, the Lahad Datu story might even be far far worse than the Alligator story!
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