Saturday January 19, 2013
Ex-MNLF leader tells RCI how he came into Sabah in the 1970s
By RUBEN SARIO and STEPHANIE LEE
KOTA KINABALU: A former leader of an armed group involved in a civil war in southern Philippines some 40 years ago told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) that it was easy to slip into Sabah in the mid 1970s.
Abdul Halil Aramil said that he and six other Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leaders, who were based in Basilan province, Philippines, arrived at an island near the east coast town of Sandakan sometime in 1975 without any problem.
He told the inquiry that the group came to Jampiras Island, near Sabah, after their fighters in Basilan started running low on ammunition and food.
“We sought help in Sabah,” said Abdul Halil, who calls himself Commander Janggut.
He added that he and the other MNLF leaders eventually settled in Sabah, with most of them securing employment in the oil palm plantations.
Abdul Halil told the inquiry that he and several hundred Filipino refugees eventually set up a settlement in the interior Nabawan district, which they called Kampung Minsupala in reference to their homeland – Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan.
He said that while they yearned for autonomy in southern Philip-pines, they now considered Malaysia as their home.
“I have never gone back to where I came from and I do not wish to return there because it is not safe even though the war has ended,” he said.
Abdul Halil added that the situation there was unsafe as almost everyone owned a firearm.
On June 1, 2012, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the setting up of the RCI to investigate the long-standing problem related to illegal immigrants in Sabah, as the Government was committed to resolving the matter which could adversely affect the well-being of the state’s people.
Najib had insisted on the setting up of the RCI and had, on Sept 21, handed over appointment letters to the RCI chairman, former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong and the commission’s other members.
The Prime Minister reportedly told the commission members that he wanted the inquiry to be completed before the general election.