Soldiers in action during the Lahad Datu intrusion of March, 2013. – File pic
KOTA KINABALU: A Filipino accused in the Lahad Datu intrusion trial told the High Court here today that he was not given any power as a Sulu ‘panglima’ of a village in Semporna.
Al Wazir Osman, 61 said when he was appointed to the post by the so-called Sulu sultan Esmail Kiram in 2008, he took on the responsibility to manage the Suluk people of Kampung Selamat.
“A ‘panglima’ is a representative or leader of the Suluk community. They (Sulu ‘sultanate) appointed me (as ‘panglima) without any power.
“Those who were appointed as ‘panglima’ will manage the Suluk people by getting them jobs and identity documents,” said Al Wazir in the Suluk language and translated by a court interpreter.
He was entering his defence on a charge of being a member of a terrorist group and waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong during an armed intrusion at Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu in 2013.
Al Wazir told the court that prior to his appointment, he met with Esmail and Esmail’s younger brother, Datu Agbimuddin, in Semporna in 2007.
He said the siblings were in Semporna for a discussion with the Malaysian government and they agreed that the Filipinos in Malaysia were under the rule of Malaysia.
After 2007, Al Wazir said he never met Esmail and Agbimuddin, but in February 2013, he learnt from news on the television that Agbimuddin had come to Malaysia for a discussion on some matters.
To a question by counsel Stella Simon during examination-in-chief, Al Wazir said he was a follower of Esmail as the so-called sultan had appointed him as a ‘panglima’.
He also told the court that he felt the relationship between Esmail and Agbimuddin was not good because of some dispute which he was not sure of.
“There were other discussions between Sultan Esmail and the Malaysian government after 2007. Datu Agbimuddin never took part in any,” he said.
Thirteen Filipinos and a local are entering their defence before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prison Department for various offences allegedly committed between Feb 12 and April 10, 2013.
Some of the accused are facing one to multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group and waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Others are alleged to have wilfully harboured individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group, or solicited or gave support to a terrorist group.
The hearing continues tomorrow. – Bernama