Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal – Bernama file photo
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal wants the necessary infrastructure and manpower to safeguard Sabah to be sited at places where they are desperately needed.
Speaking to reporters here today, he said that these infrastructure and manpower should be sited where they are required such as Semporna, Tawau, Lahad Datu and Sandakan, instead of at a site like Lokawi in the west coast.
“I don’t think we need Lokawi camp in Lokawi. You need the people to be placed where they are needed, not for political reasons but for the national interest. If we can do that sort of thing, we can deter (kidnappers). It is a form of deterrence,” he said.
He was commenting on news reports about 10 crew members of two fishing boats were believed to have been kidnapped by a group believed to linked with Abu Sayyaf group early today.
Shafie earlier launched the forum on the New Sabah “New challenges, new realities, new opportunities” which is jointly organised by the Kingsley Strategic Institute (KSI) and Institute for Development Studies Sabah.