Then when the British Far East Land Forces withdrew, the Filipino regime
at that time was quite vocal in its demand for the state of Sabah.
Malaysia was then facing a communist insurgency led by the Communist
Party of Malaya (CPM).
For self-preservation and in order to protect a very fragile economy,
the Malaysian government was believed to have encouraged the Moro
separatists in the southern Philippines, so as to distract attention
from claims over Sabah and to get the Philippines Armed Forces bogged
down in its back yard.
The alleged front man for this exercise was none other then the
'infamous' Tun Datu Mustapha, then Sabah's Chief Minister, who was a
Muslim and had extended family in the southern Philippines.
Similar incidents have occurred the world over. More recently, the
Pakistani regime's support for the Taliban through supply of arms and
training neutralised a very hostile and porous border in the North-West
Frontier Province with Afghanistan.
Malaysia likewise employed the concept of strategic depth. The Malaysian
Armed Forces did not want to or have to engage an enemy on two fronts,
the military wing of the CPM and the Philippines Armed Forces.
At that time huge resource were being expended on military hardware and
personnel by components of the Malaysian Armed Forces. For instance, the
Rajang Area Security Command (Rascom) in Sarawak, Gua Musang in
Kelantan and Bentong in Pahang were a hotbed of communist activity. The
Royal Malaysian Navy had to deal with the spillover from the Vietnam
war, refugees, pirates, etc.
Hence with financing by Colonel Muammar Qaddafi's Libya, the campaign in
the southern Philippines was stepped up in the spirit of Muslim
brotherhood. Covert operations were conducted and gun running was rife. Malaysian special forces were alleged to have clandestinely conducted
training
for the Moro separatists in established camps in Sabah.
In southern Thailand, another group of Muslim brothers were facing an
onslaught from the Royal Thai Armed Forces. This group called itself the
Patani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo). Malaysia's political
elite lent moral support to the group which was allowed to have offices
in the northern states of Malaysia.
As a direct result, Thailand's southern military command vehemently
opposed any and all forms of co-operation with the Malaysian military
which requested assistance against the CPM, which had bases in southern
Thailand. The Thai military command totally ignored the activities of
the CPM within its borders.
It was in fact much later that the Malaysian authorities realised that
to help Pulo would be detrimental to the fight against communists. So,
they ceased helping Pulo. Malaysian troops in the frontline areas were
instructed not to engage the Pulo fighters, instead they were to direct
them back into Thai territory.
Those who say there were no bombings in Malaysia have a short memory.
Sabah, in 1986, faced a spate of bombings, an intimidation tactic used
to sow terror on the electorate. This was caused by the loss of the Usno
and Berjaya parties (component parties of Barisan Nasional) to Joseph
Pairin Kitingan's, predominantly Kadazan-based and Christian party,
Parti Bersatu Sabah. There was a pathetic "coup" attempt conducted by
Datu Mustapha and Harris Salleh, which failed miserably, as it was ruled
unconstitutional.
State-wide elections were called for the second time, and it was during
this period that a lot of bombs were set off, especially in Kota
Kinabalu. The hand of the Moro separatists was seen in this as there
were thousands of displaced Muslims from the southern Philippines
islands in refugees camps in Sabah. And a lot of them were reported to
have Malaysian blue identity cards.
This was reported by independent election observers who were monitoring
the elections at the time. Disaster was averted by excellent crisis
management by then deputy prime minister, Musa Hitam who ordered the
deployment of a massive number of troops from the peninsular, in full
battle order in a deliberate show of force, to deter those intent on
intimidating the local electorate.
That the Malaysian government had ties with these extremist
organisations is well known. It helped nurture these organisations
which, unfortunately, have now become a liability. Only when your 'rocks' are held over a fire, do you deny negating
history. Unfortunately for our political masters, the world knows. This
is one taint that will not come off hence Malaysia is implicated.
Reference sites:
http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/nations/0,8782,100233,00.html
Link
http://www.jcpa.org/jl/jl436.htm
Link
http://call.army.mil/fmso/FMSOPUBS/ISSUES/sword.htm
Link
http://mnlf.net/Speech%20OIC_28th_ICFM%20Bamako%20June%202001.htm
Link
http://army.mod.gov.my/darurat/
Link
