Chua (middle) with SAPP members after handing over food and drinks to security forces personnel on duty at Mile 5 Apas Road roadblock.
TAWAU: Tawau member of parliament Datuk Chua Soon Bui called on the government to present a ‘White Paper’ or initiate a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the intrusion by an armed group from Sulu into Sabah.
It should also include looking into why the self-professed sultan of Sulu is continuing to stake claim on Sabah despite our government’s announcement and documentary evidence that Sabah is part of Malaysia. This long overdue problem can no longer be taken lightly as many lives have been lost and will be lost should the conflict deepen, she said after handing over food and drinks to security forces personnel on duty at Mile 5 Apas Road roadblock.
Chua, who is Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) vice president, said SAPP would continue to supply food and drinks to the police personnel stationed at the security check point at Mile 5, Apas Road.
She said this is the least they can do to provide morale support to the security forces on duty to meet any threats to the security and safety of the people in the current crisis.
She reminded the people to be on the alert, be cautious in their neighbourhood and to alert the security forces of any suspicious activities.
“It is only through communal co-operation that we can maximize our role in enhancing the safety of our community,” she said yesterday.
Chua urged the government to reassure and update the people on the situation when the self-professed Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram made the threat to engage in guerilla warfare against the security forces.
“The first episode of the Sulu gunmen conducting their offensive guerilla warfare against the Malaysian forces was on March 1. They are continuing to inflict psychological warfare on our security forces since then,” she said.
“The people of Sabah in Lahad Datu, Semporna, Kunak and Tawau may not suffer as much as the refugees who were driven out from the villages in Felda Sahabat, or those Filipinos who had chosen to flee Sabah to return home to Tawi Tawi. The magnitude of the physical sufferings might be different but the psychological fear and uncertainties inflicted on our people and the economy would take an indefinite time to recover. The damage from the attack on our sovereignty might take time to heal, so I urge the government not to take our security for granted,” she said.