KOTA KINABALU: Maritime security in eastern Sabah remains tight with marine police from Malaysia and the Philippines jointly patrolling sea borders to monitor suspicious movements of vessels, amidst tension in Mindanao.
With clashes between the Philippine armed forces and members of an Islamist militant group escalating, Malaysia has put its forces on high alert ahead of an anticipated influx of refugees and fleeing Islamist militants into Sabah’s east coast.
In light of the spiralling crisis, representatives of the two countries are meeting today to exchange information on the latest situation in the southern Philippines, Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) commander Datuk Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid said.
“The marine police of both countries have been conducting joint patrols in the Sulu sea since early this year.
“This (discussion is part of) an ongoing process where we meet up regularly to update each other on what is happening on the other side.
“Periodically, we (touch base and) dock up together at sea at a point that has been established and both officers will exchange information,” he told the New Straits Times, without divulging more details.
But Wan Abdul Bari gave his assurance that the security situation in eastern Sabah is under control, despite conflict nearby.
“We are aware of the martial law declared by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, and we are following the progress of what is happening (in Mindanao).
“So, in preparation for (the anticipated fallout from the ongoing clashes), all our forward troops are on full alert.
“We are conducting continuous operations to check if there are any intrusions (from the Philippines’s conflict area) – but there has been none (so far),” he said.
To a question on whether there were significant influxes of Filipinos during similar outbreaks of conflict in the past, Bari said Esscom had not detected mass movements of people fleeing the region.
Meanwhile, Sabah police commissioner Datuk Ramli Din stressed that all enforcement personnel here have been alerted to the ongoing skirmish in Mindanao.
“We are beefing up security on Sabah’s east coast to prevent any incursion of militants or Filipino villagers. At the moment, the situation is under control,” he said.
On Tuesday, Duterte declared martial law in the southern region of Mindanao, home to about 20 million people, after gunmen who had declared allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group rampaged through a southern city.
Duterte had warned that martial law there will be “harsh” and “like a dictatorship”, stressing that the imposition of direct military control in Mindanao could last for up to a year.