KOTA KINABALU: Any individuals or entity seeking to influence people to support the call for Sabah to leave Malaysia can be investigated under the Sedition Act, said the intelligence coordination officer of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom), ACP Hashim Justin.
Speaking at a public forum attended by students from higher learning institutions at Intan Campus yesterday, Hashim said if the call was to succeed and create chaos in the country, the mastermind could face the death penalty for waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
“I have been sent on a number of missions to areas of conflict, and this sort of call has not been known to give positive results because of pressure from various powers.
“The recent intrusion case in Lahad Datu clearly shows that we have to think very deeply before making any decision to support the call for Sabah to leave Malaysia.
“The Moro conflict in the southern Philippines is another example that we can learn from, where their people have to suffer because of never ending political conflicts. They dream of peace, but see death almost everyday because of the conflicts. I do not think we want to risk what we have now for this kind of situation,” he said.
Hashim also urged students and the people of Sabah to find other ways to express their dissatisfaction towards the government or the implementation of the laws so that national sovereignty can be preserved at all cost.
He said the people in the villages have their village heads to listen to their needs, while the public and civil service can always use the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) as a platform. The Malaysian Trades Union Congress is another proper channel that has been very vocal on many important issues.
“Even students have their own Students’ Council and in every constituency, we have the assemblyman or assemblywoman who can become ‘tools’ for the people to express their demands. Choosing the right person is absolutely dependent on the people’s choice.
“With all the proper channels that we have, we just need to optimize when using it. Creating chaos and threatening is not the best option,” he said.
The public forum was attended by two other panelists, namely, State Assembly Speaker Datuk Seri Salleh Said and special officer from the Rural and Regional Development Ministry, Jamawi Jaafar.
The moderator for the forum was deputy director of Sabah Information Department, Yunus Saprin.
Salleh, in his personal capacity, also commented on the issue. He said although the voice calling for Sabah to leave Malaysia is very popular subject discussed by the netizens, he feels the topic may only be discussed by a small group of people, and not from the majority of the 2.8 million population of Sabah.
“I personally see the political differences as a normal issue in any democratic country. We can have any political parties demanding for more jobs to be given to Sabahans, more oil royalty, more development. This is acceptable and can always be discussed for as long as it takes.
“However, if there is any call for Sabah to leave Malaysia, then we may need to prevent this as it could influence the people,” he said.
During a press conference after the event, Salleh also said that the people had always been given their rights to give opinions, but it does not mean they have absolute freedom, especially when the proposal could affect national security.
Asked whether the Internal Security Act (ISA) needs to be revived to handle such threat to the country, Salleh said it is important to study why the particular Act was created, but finally abolished.
“I personally think that the name of the Act is not important, but the need. Security Offences (Special Measures) Act or Sosma has replaced ISA, meaning we need to study also the implementation of this Act.
“Some Umno leaders are now proposing to bring back the ISA, but it is not the name but the power of security forces to detain without trial. It need to be studied,” added Salleh.