KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysia said Tuesday it will tighten maritime security in its easternmost state of Sabah, which borders the Philippines Muslim south.
Premier Najib Razak announced the restructuring of Eastern Sabah Security Command following the failure of security agencies to prevent the kidnapping of both locals and foreigners in Sabah - believed to have been carried out by the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf.
The group's stronghold - Jolo - lies in the autonomous island archipelago of Sulu, between the Philippines and Malaysia's eastern coast.
"Even though Esscom [the Eastern Sabah Security Command] has succeeded in preventing new intrusions, other forms of crime such as kidnapping still pose a security threat," Razak said.
“The government has decided to reorganize the security management in the Sabah eastern coast by strengthening Esscom by restructuring the organization.”
Covering over 1,400 kilometers of the east coast of Sabah, Esscomm was formed in March last year by Razak himself, a month after a deadly intrusion by armed militants from Sulu.
To increase its effectiveness, Razak said Esscom would be from now be split into two main components - a Security and Defence Management component, and an Enforcement and Public Action component.
"The purpose of this restructuring exercise is to strengthen Esscom's chain of command; to improve and ensure the full involvement of the rakyat [people] with the security agencies in ensuring the Sabah east coast is free from intrusion and crime; and for all officials to work in unison to make sure eastern Sabah is safe and harmonious," said Razak.
In the last four months, three kidnapping cases have been reported in the region, with the latest just three weeks ago when armed men snatched a fish farm operator in Sabah’s east coast town of Kunak. The kidnappers were later reported to be from Sulu.
Malaysia has also asked the Philippines to help it track down five militants believed to be hiding in the second largest and southernmost major island in the southern Philippines, Mindanao.
A report in Malaysia's The Star Online on Sunday said the men are believed to have ties with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and understood to be holed up with the Abu Sayyaf in Jolo.
Najib said the vastness of the area surrounding Sabah and its complex society is the main reason why Esscomm had failed to prevent kidnappings in Sabah's waters since its establishment in March 2013.
"The area is huge. The society there is accustomed to entering and leaving the area. In that situation, they do not see national boundaries as a barrier, " he said. So we need to cooperate with the locals. Those who own resorts should only hire citizens as staff and set up CCTVs."
The Abu Sayyaf engages in kidnappings for ransom, bombings, assassinations and extortion.
It has been linked to al-Qaeda and is the most violent of the religious separatist groups operating in the southern Philippines. It claims to promote an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago.
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