Malaysians fund Abu Sayyaf
June 21, 2016 10:37 pm
Yes, that’s what they have done in effect by paying 12 million
Malaysian ringgit (P138 million) to the terrorist group for the release
on June 8 of four of its citizens kidnapped off Sabah on April 1, and
hidden in Sulu.
This isn’t rumor. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister (and Home Minister)
Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi confirmed such payment in Malaysian
newspapers. So did the uncle of one of the kidnap victims, Datuk Lau
Cheng Kiong, who even gave details — which I find incredible — on how
the huge ransom money was paid. (I suspect the money was raised by the
Malaysian government itself, and not by contributions made through the
internet as Lau claimed.)
The Malaysian
government, though, thinks Filipinos are fools. Its deputy prime
minister claimed: “I can confirm that the RM12 million that was handed
over to the Special Branch was given as a form of contribution to
certain organizations in the Philippines. It was channeled not as
ransom, but to a body in the Philippines, which assists in an Islamic
struggle. The body has no links to terrorists or criminals.” (The
Special Branch is Malaysia’s intelligence service, the equivalent of the
Americans’ CIA and FBI, but combined.)
The Abu Sayaff recently beheaded two Canadians after the hostages’
government and families failed to pay the ransom demanded by the
militant group. The terrorists, however, freed the four Malaysians, with
the Malaysian government confirming that RM 12 million was “sent over”
for their release.
Yet, the deputy prime minister claims it wasn’t ransom, and that it
was given not even to the kidnappers but to “a body in the Philippines,
which assists in an Islamic struggle.”
Does he think we, Filipinos, are so stupid?
The ransom payment has triggered a political firestorm in Malaysia
because of the contradictory statements issued by government officials.
Home Minister Hamidi disclosed that the funds were turned over to the
Special Branch, which presumably turned them over to the Abu Sayyaf.
Lau, who represented the families of the four hostages, even narrated
that two Special Branch officers, with an approval letter from Bank
Negara, withdrew the sum and carried them in 12 metal cases to the
police station.
Malaysian
newspaper The Star reports that the deputy home minister has confirmed
money was paid to secure the release of the Malaysian sailors taken
hostage by the Abu Sayyaf group in Mindanao, although he called it a
“contribution to certain organizations in the Philippines.”
However, Malaysia’s Police Inspector-General Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar
denied that the Special Branch handled any money, and that ransom was
paid. He made the preposterous claim that the Abu Sayyaf was pressured
to release its hostages because of the Malaysian government’s move to
ban barter trade between Malaysia and Mindanao.
Malaysian quarters have also raised fears that the ransom payment
would make them the favorite targets of kidnappers. Indeed, the Home
Minister, less than a month ago, claimed: “If we were to pay (ransom),
the fear is that it could be seen as us condoning such acts of violence.
We can see a trend from this latest abduction whereby out of the 10
people onboard, the Myanmar nationals and Indonesians were released.
“Only the Malaysians were taken,” he said.
Ransom money shared
The controversy has made our country look like a place where terrorist
kidnappers can operate freely to get huge ransoms, helped by local
officials and even officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who
collaborate with the Abu Sayyaf so they can get a share of the ransom
money.
As was the scoop of The Manila Times the other day, the Abu Sayaff
was reported to have received only P100 million of the ransom, with the
rest going to the pockets of Malaysian and Philippine government
officials. “They claimed it was a legitimate service fee,” a source in
the military, grinning, told me.
This isn’t so shocking really based on past reports. The mayor of
Jolo, Sulu, Hussin Amin, recently alleged that some military officers in
Sulu are in cahoots with the Abu Sayyaf group and have been getting a
share of the ransom paid to the terrorist group from past kidnapping
cases. He cited one case, which a congressional committee had
investigated, in which the Army colonel helping the kidnappers was
identified.
Indeed, when I was in government in the early 2000s during the Dos
Palmas kidnapping of more than a dozen tourists, military intelligence
had explained that one difficulty in going after kidnappers in Basilan
and Sulu was that kidnapping was treated as some kind of a cottage
industry in those areas.
The hostages would be turned over by the kidnappers to the local
clans, who would move them from one family to another to hide them. The
armed gang that actually undertook the kidnapping would simply store
away their arms and blend into the civilian population, until it was
tasked to collect the ransom and release the hostages. There were even
cases when one clan would “buy” the hostages from the original
kidnappers and would undertake negotiations for the payment of the
ransom.
These clans often have relatives in the police, or even the Army, who
would tip them off of any plans by the authorities to search a
community for the hostages. The clans, of course, would get a portion of
the ransom, when it is paid. This is the reason why the Abu Sayyaf has
been able to elude government forces no matter how many troops are
mobilized against them.
Ransom payments serve to strengthen the Abu Sayyaf and make their
kidnappings easier to undertake. What other armed groups could get as
much as P100 million in one operation? With funds available, the Abu
Sayyaf finds it easier to recruit additional fighters and to bribe a
community – in advance – to hide their hostages.
Even as the ransom payment has become an issue in Malaysia, our
government hasn’t even protested the Malaysians’ payment of the ransom
undertaken through its intelligence service, operating in our territory.
Why shouldn’t we protest, when the Abu Sayaff now has over P100 million
to fund their acquisition of more powerful weapons, to recruit more
terrorists and bribe local officials to provide sanctuary for their
future hostages?
Now busy packing, or perhaps shredding documents that could be used
in graft cases against him, President Aquino is clueless over the
controversy, and hasn’t done anything to protest against payment of the
ransom, or even just the public confirmation made by the Malaysian
deputy prime minister of such payment. His de facto spokesman, Herminio
Coloma – the official one, Edwin Lacierda, appears to have vanished a
few months ago – told Manila Times reporters that they had no knowledge
of the ransom payment, and appeared nonchalant about it.
Coloma’s ignorance of the ransom payment by the Malaysians, which has
made our nation look like a powerless wimp in the region, is
disgraceful. Because of the incompetence of this Yellow Regime, we have
become the only country in Asia where a known terrorist group kidnaps
foreigners and gets huge ransom money.
That is so reflective of the stupid, incompetent government that we
have. Shouldn’t it undertake an intensive investigation into how the
Malaysians could operate so freely in the country, violating our
anti-ransom policies and consequently boosting the strength of the
terrorist Abu Sayyaf with more funds?
Shouldn’t the government find out which local channels were used by
the Malaysians to make the ransom payment? Malaysia is mocking our
sovereignty by operating in our territory to pay ransom to terrorists
plaguing our land, and Aquino doesn’t seem to mind it. Or has this
government become close buddies with the Malaysians, who had promised
Aquino they would handle the MILF to agree to a peace pact?
What kind of a country have we become that even our neighbors trample on our sovereignty?
tiglao.manilatimes@gmail.com
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