Fact remains the suluk's have been conducting raids on the east coast for centuries, mainly to kidnap local natives to sell as slaves in the old trading outpost in Zambonga to chinese merchants. I don't buy this whole Abu Syaff and what have you religious ties..these guys are in business to kidnap and to make money/profit from it...they have the guns, and their parents and their grandparents did the same before them so this is all they know. They won't work as fishermen, they won't work as planters so this is all they know and the only way this problem is ever going to be solved is for them to be wiped out.
Till now, Malaysia has been playing the good muslim neighbour but at some point in time, you have to wonder if this muslim brotherhood nonsense has played out long enough and reality sets in for the Malaysians. They just have absolutely very little intelligence on the ground as to who is doing what, when they are conducting their raids and how to stop them. And there have been a number of other attempts and gunfights prior to this over the past 2 months which has not made it into the news or has been circulated by the media.
The problems the Malaysians face is several: their current policy of not being able to fire back unless fired upon in Malaysian waters...hence, if someone comes into Malaysian waters in army fatigues and is armed, the malaysian navy and police forces can't fire on them. They can tail them but risk a fire fight. The lack of maritime and aviationn assets to protect and cover the huge amount of water that needs protection. But the newly introduced curfew is a start. The money being allocated (apparently) to ESSCOM is not being allocated to purchase the appropriate assets and equipment and the fact remains they are (the malaysians) following an outdated policy of stationing men on atolls and islands and waiting for these pirates/terrorists to attack them..which won't happen because they just go around these locations anyways and have been doing so for years. There simply are no drones active at night providing overwatch, no advanced radar systems on naval assets, not enough fast attack boats, and no high cover from a C130 with advanced night vision equipment and a radar platform to give the naval assets any idea of what is coming their way along the narrow border with the Philippines.
If it was that easy for 8 guys to slip into a 'heavily' patrolled/guarded Mabul, then you know how lax the authorities are because it should not have happened to begin with so many tourist in the resorts all around the area of the shoot out. The only reason no tourist were taken based on our best guess was they had very little time as there was gunfire and other police patrols were alerted and the fact they managed to capture 1 off duty police man in plaine clothes who was having his dinner with a collegue.
It could have been a hell of a lot worse if they had not stumbled on the 2 officers because they would have gotten to the backpackers accomodations on Mabul instead.
ESSCOM has been an utter failure from the start so, no need to reflect on it any further.
My suggestion at the moment is that it's just not a good idea at the moment to be monkeying about the area in Mabul/Semporna.
My suggestion would be to do day dives out of semporna if you are desperate to dive at mabul/kapalai, sipadan. This is fine.
Avoid staying in the resorts off the coast or at nights.
Sandakan/Kinabatangan river is relatively to visit so you should/can carry on plans if you were going out to that area.
Till now, Malaysia has been playing the good muslim neighbour but at some point in time, you have to wonder if this muslim brotherhood nonsense has played out long enough and reality sets in for the Malaysians. They just have absolutely very little intelligence on the ground as to who is doing what, when they are conducting their raids and how to stop them. And there have been a number of other attempts and gunfights prior to this over the past 2 months which has not made it into the news or has been circulated by the media.
The problems the Malaysians face is several: their current policy of not being able to fire back unless fired upon in Malaysian waters...hence, if someone comes into Malaysian waters in army fatigues and is armed, the malaysian navy and police forces can't fire on them. They can tail them but risk a fire fight. The lack of maritime and aviationn assets to protect and cover the huge amount of water that needs protection. But the newly introduced curfew is a start. The money being allocated (apparently) to ESSCOM is not being allocated to purchase the appropriate assets and equipment and the fact remains they are (the malaysians) following an outdated policy of stationing men on atolls and islands and waiting for these pirates/terrorists to attack them..which won't happen because they just go around these locations anyways and have been doing so for years. There simply are no drones active at night providing overwatch, no advanced radar systems on naval assets, not enough fast attack boats, and no high cover from a C130 with advanced night vision equipment and a radar platform to give the naval assets any idea of what is coming their way along the narrow border with the Philippines.
If it was that easy for 8 guys to slip into a 'heavily' patrolled/guarded Mabul, then you know how lax the authorities are because it should not have happened to begin with so many tourist in the resorts all around the area of the shoot out. The only reason no tourist were taken based on our best guess was they had very little time as there was gunfire and other police patrols were alerted and the fact they managed to capture 1 off duty police man in plaine clothes who was having his dinner with a collegue.
It could have been a hell of a lot worse if they had not stumbled on the 2 officers because they would have gotten to the backpackers accomodations on Mabul instead.
ESSCOM has been an utter failure from the start so, no need to reflect on it any further.
My suggestion at the moment is that it's just not a good idea at the moment to be monkeying about the area in Mabul/Semporna.
My suggestion would be to do day dives out of semporna if you are desperate to dive at mabul/kapalai, sipadan. This is fine.
Avoid staying in the resorts off the coast or at nights.
Sandakan/Kinabatangan river is relatively to visit so you should/can carry on plans if you were going out to that area.
