Sabah Standoff : Treacherous Shoals In The Sulu Sea

Here is a news report from the Phillipines about the situation in Lahad Datu.

MANILA, Philippines—A radio report early Wednesday said Malaysia’s National Security Council (NSC) had taken over the standoff situation between the group of Sulu sultanate-led Filipino “intruders” and Malaysian authorities in Sabah.  The extended 48-hour deadline for the group to leave the island, which the sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III, claims as their land, lapsed after the last hour of Tuesday.  The report said Deputy Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar was coordinating with Sabah police and the military in trying to resolve the standoff.  Sultan Kiram III on Tuesday ignored President Aquino’s warning that his followers, holed up in Tanduao village in Lahad Datu town and numbering 236, would “face the full force of the law.”—Rick Alberto

Kiram playing sultan from his house.

Why is Sultan Jamalul Kiram (picture) being so adamant and ordering his followers to stay put in Lahad Datu? The answer is simple. Firstly it is not his life which is at stake. His followers are quite disposable. The Sultan is out of harm's way. Plus some of his family members are citizens of the United States. 

Secondly, there must be major money backing his followers with uniforms, assault rifles, grenade launchers and speed boats.  There is serious money and muscle behind the Sultan Jamalul Kiram.

Even President Aquino of the Phillipines is wondering where Sultan Kiram got the money. Here is more news from the Phillipines:

• President Aquino is unsure if Jamalul Kiram III is the rightful heir of Sulu 
• President doubted sultan’s capability to finance an operation involving 235 followers who went to Sabah.
• “We were given reports that they are not doing too well. And we are also told that there is quite a large amount of money involved in ferrying people on launches from Tawi-Tawi to Sabah,” he said.
• Aquino asked: “Where did the funding come from? And who is funding them?”
• “We are still collating evidence that this was not an action just on their part,” he added.
• Aquino said Sultan Jamalul Kiram II, whose reign ended in 1936, died without an heir.

So even President Aquino is asking where did these guys get the money?

Here is this most interesting blog from Sabah which you must read :  Sabah Ground Zero.  They have quite some heavy stuff about the present situation in Sabah and the Sulu Sea.  Among other things they say that : 

• In early February 2013, two PKR politicians from Malaysian went to Manila to probe on Aman Futures Group conman Manuel Amalilion who defrauded Filipinos of 12 billion pesos in a Ponzi scheme.
• The duo told Malaysians that they are going to Manila on a fact finding mission on Manuel Amalilio and his Aman Futures Group.  They took a Friday night flight, stayed in Manila on Saturday and returned to KL the following day.
• The Question is - why did they go to Manila on a fact finding mission when almost 99% of victims swindled by Amalilio were in the Mindanao and Visayas regions?  After all, Manuel’s office and centre of operations was in Pagadian City, a city that is 1,113km away from Manila.  
• What were they actually doing in Manila?  
• Did they meet a C*A agent there under instructions from Anwar Ibrahim’s American contact, or did they meet an agent of Nur Misuari, leader of rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)?
• Or did they meet an agent of Sultan Jamalul Kiram?  After all, the Sultan is undergoing dialysis treatment in a hospital in Manila.

Who were these two PKR politicians who went to Manila in February? You can read Sabah Ground Zero and see their pictures for your self.

Do you recall the character named Manuel Amalilio - the Phillipine conman who has been arrested in Sabah recently by our Malaysian authorities?  He has conned thousands of people in the Southern Phillipines of hundreds of millions of Ringgit.  Here is more about this character and the present situation in Lahad Datu. Sabah Ground Zero quotes Phillipine government officials who say that some of this money has been used to finance terrorist groups in the Southern Phillipines. :  

• “Philippines Justice Secretary De Lima confirmed the National Bureau of Investigations received intelligence information stating that the multi-billion peso windfall from Aman's (futures group) pyramiding scheme is being used to finance the activities of a terrorist group”.
• The above is the actual quote from justice secretary Leila Magistrado De Lima as reported in Philippines media after syndicated estafa charges were filed on Pagadian City Mayor Samuel Co and his wife Priscilla Ann in the wake of the Aman Futures Group Scam end of last year.
• That is the actual reason why Malaysian police scrambled to stop the deportation of the conman at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport on Jan 25, 2013.
• Manuel Amalilio was in a position to provide Malaysian security forces with valuable information on terrorists/rebel groups such as Abu Sayyaf, MNLF and the Royal Sulu Army that could threaten the security in the region.
• So despite knowing it would turn out to be a public relations disaster, Malaysian Authorities proceeded to block Manuel’s deportation.

And Sabah Ground Zero concludes with : 

• The standoff in Sabah has all the trademarks of a cleverly orchestrated plan to topple the current administrators of Sabah with influence from world superpowers.
• The Sulu Sultanate claim is just a smokescreen.  Common sense will show, if Sulu Sultanate wanted to claim back Sabah, why only NOW ???

After reading all this  I searched my Blog for Sabah and came up with the following things that I had written about Sabah.

• MONDAY, MAY 18, 2009 -  Gun Running In Sabah
• A few years back I did make a prediction somewhere that things like this would happen. It was after the US Marines had set up a base on Jolo and Basilan Islands in the Southern Phillipines. The US Marines have not left yet. They are within motor boat distance of Sabah.
• Racial and religious tensions have not really eased in the Southern Phillipines (or Southern Thailand) but I believe that it is in some type of gestation. Here is a report from The Star about gun running through Sabah.
• Monday May 18, 2009 -  Big ammo seizure from boat
• KOTA KINABALU: Police seized 36,000 rounds of ammunition from a passenger boat docked at the Tawau jetty in the east coast of Sabah. A marine police team also seized an air rifle and a home-made shotgun from the boat during a raid around 6pm on Saturday.  Noor Rashid said three of the suspects were Indonesians and the fourth was a Malaysian. They were all in their 40s. He declined to speculate on the motive of the group.
• I am not accusing the United States over this particular gun running incident, but the Americans are most definitely not beyond this type of shenanigans.

These things have been going on in Sabah for sometime. The Sulu guys in Lahad Datu are armed with American weapons including M 203 grenade launchers. This is an M 203 grenade launcher. 

How did these high powered American weapons end up with these Sulu people? Who pays for them? Here is a possible suggestion - do you recall this picture? 

It was that US Navy ship the USS Guardian that "ran aground" on a reef in the Southern Phillipines on January 17, 2013.   Here is my Blog post about that strange episode :  US Navy/Marines Messing Around Mindanao/Sabah

"Here is a funny picture. It is also a disastrous situation for the coral reef.  That is a US Navy minesweeper which ran aground on the reef in the Sulu Sea and seriously damaged the corals.   The Tubbataha Coral Reef in the Sulu Sea, just off the coast of Palawan is not far from the Royal Commission of Inquiry in Sabah. That is a wooden hulled US Navy minesweeper that sailed right onto the reef. The Tubbataha Reefs have been declared a World Heritage site."

This ship is a minesweeper. It is fitted with the latest navigation and depth finding electronic equipment. (Otherwise it cannot be a minesweeper). Sabah Ground Zero says the ship was intentionally run aground.  Here is some news

"The USS Guardian is a minesweeper normally deployed in littoral and protected waters either for mine-laying or mine-sweeping. To find this vessel operating in open waters way far from the usual shipping routes is indeed a mystery and invites further scrutiny and speculation. "

There are some pretty mixed up people in the Sulu Sea right now who are messing around with other peoples' lives. Meeting with sepaatrists and anti-Malaysia elements, gun running, provoking terrorists, trying to destabilize Sabah,  willingly becoming pawns to superpowers and all sorts of other stupid things.  We will be watching.