The Philippines condemns M'sian police over abuses
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'No response' to request for access to detainees or 'mercy ship' to dock
The Philippine Palace yesterday condemned the reported abuses suffered by Filipinos at the hands of Malaysian police in the crackdown on followers of the sultan of Sulu in Sabah.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is seeking to verify descriptions in the report published by The Inquirer yesterday based on the accounts given by Filipinos fleeing violence sparked by the intrusion of the followers of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III into Sabah.
One refugee, Amira Taradji, spoke of how Malaysian police conducting sweeps of villages in search of the sultan’s followers rounded up Filipino men, made them run as fast as they could, and shot them.
One of the men killed in Sandakan was Taradji’s brother Jumadil.
Even Filipinos with immigration papers were being rounded up and thrown into jails, Taradji said.
Some who tried to avoid arrest by showing their papers were shot, she said.
Some 79 people, including Tausug and Orang Suluk (people who originated from Sulu), were rounded up on Friday in police sweeps of villages to flush out supporters of Jamalul’s attempt to retake Sabah from Malaysia.
Thirty-three more, including four women, were arrested early on Sunday on suspicion of abetting the intruders, including providing them with security information.
The Semporna police chief, Firdaus Francis Abdullah, said the suspects, all foreigners, were detained at Bakau.
He did not say if the foreigners were Filipinos, but Bakau has many Filipino residents.
Firdaus said four of those arrested were believed to be intruders.
Malaysian police chief Ismail Omar reported that a teenage boy was shot dead and a man was wounded by security forces in the battle zone on Sunday.
Omar did not say whether the man and the boy were followers of the Sulu sultan.
Sixty-one people have been killed in fighting since the intrusion led to violence on March 1, including 53 Filipinos and eight Malaysian policemen.
Speaking on Sunday, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said abuses against Filipinos in Sabah were “unacceptable” to the government.
Valte said Philippine diplomats would talk to the Malaysians about the reported abuses.
She said President Benigno Aquino III spoke with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on March 2 and received assurance that the rights of the 800,000 Filipinos in Malaysia would be protected.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the DFA said the Malaysian government should clarify the reported abuses.
“If this is true, we will tell them that this should not happen because the safety of all Filipinos in … Sabah is important,” DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said.
Hernandez said the government would appeal to Malaysia to treat Filipinos in Sabah humanely.
He said Malaysia had not responded to a Philippine request for updated information about Filipino casualties in the fighting between Malaysian security forces and followers of Jamalul led by the sultan’s brother Agbimuddin.
The Philippines has asked Malaysia to be given access to 10 sultanate followers who were captured during a police raid on Agbimuddin’s group in Tanduao village in Lahad Datu town on March 1, but the Malaysians have not responded, Hernandez said.
Malaysia also has not responded to the Philippines’ request for permission for a mercy ship to go to Sabah to pick up Filipinos who want to return home, Hernandez said.
