Setting the record straight: Malaysian armies were very backward in the 70s; did not have the capability to train the MNLF

Last month, almost to the day, Hadji Acmad Bayam, former chief propagandist of the MNLF, revealed that MNLF forces joined the Kiram fighters in Sabah which would force Malaysian security forces to face 'battle-tested' Libya-trained MNLF forces (and not Malaysian-trained as Manila Bulletin report said -- see 'nota bene'). 

Back in the 70s, the MNLF were onto a secession war with PH thanks to support of Kuala Lumpur politicians who began funding rebellion wars in Midnanao during the time of Tunku Abdul Razak, father of current Malaysia PM Najib Razak). 

NOTA BENE:

It is imperative to understand that Malaysian armies at the time still were very backward and did not have the capability to train the MNLF.

The modernisation of Malaysia's armies, including their training, only kicked in when Prime Minister Mahathir came into the picture. They themselves got delivery of their first really modernised defence kits only in the early 80s.

So we beg to disagree with Manila Bulletin report* which highlighted that MNLF forces were trained by Malaysian armies back in the 70s. THIS IS NOT QUITE RIGHT! The MNLF forces were trained in large part by Libya's forces back in the 70s. 

The Malaysians did fund the MNLF (and later, the MILF), supplied them with weapons cache and allowed them to train in Sabah -- as war against PH by proxy -- but Malaysian military DID NOT TRAIN the MNLF because Malaysian militarydid not have the capability to do that in the late 60s and the early 70s.

In fact, the Malaysian military at that time was so backward that PH military could have defeated them even with one hand tied behind their back back then. 

French secret service back in the 70s provided Ph with intel that Gaddafi forces were training PH Islamic secessionists right in Sabah complete with picture evidence submitted to Malacanang at the time. 

Up to the 90s, French secret service had been submitting reports to successive PH govts in place -- in fact, up to the time of the Estrada Administration -- that Filipino Muslim secessionists had also been training in Afghanistan and that some had fought under the Northern Alliance armies commanded by Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir who were then fighting the Soviets. (Massoud was killed by Al Qaeda just before 9/11.)

~~By Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims 
03 March 2013

* Hereunder is the MANILA BULLETIN REPORT:

Bayam said, "You know, if Mindanao is to Manila, Sabah is to Kuala Lumpur,” said Bayam, explaining that Mindanao and Sabah are the “milking cows” of the Philippines and Malaysia, respectively, for their rich natural resources." 

Malaysian security forces are now facing battle-tested, Malaysian-trained commanders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), who know Sabah like the palm of their hands. 

Hadji Acmad Bayam, former chief propagandist of the MNLF, revealed this yesterday to the Manila Bulletin, adding that these MNLF forces may have at their disposal a huge arsenal, which they hid deep in Sabah’s rugged terrain when they returned to the Philippines after their rigid training.

~~By Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims 
03 March 2013

* Hereunder is the MANILA BULLETIN REPORT:

Bayam said, "You know, if Mindanao is to Manila, Sabah is to Kuala Lumpur,” said Bayam, explaining that Mindanao and Sabah are the “milking cows” of the Philippines and Malaysia, respectively, for their rich natural resources." 

Malaysian security forces are now facing battle-tested, Malaysian-trained commanders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), who know Sabah like the palm of their hands. 

Hadji Acmad Bayam, former chief propagandist of the MNLF, revealed this yesterday to the Manila Bulletin, adding that these MNLF forces may have at their disposal a huge arsenal, which they hid deep in Sabah’s rugged terrain when they returned to the Philippines after their rigid training.

IN PICTURE: BRACING FOR MORE FIGHTING – Malaysian soldiers aboard an armored personnel carrier drive toward the site of the standoff with Filipino gunmen in Tanduo village, Sabah. Malaysia has vowed to beef up security in the area as the death toll increased following new attacks. (AFP)

"CITIZENSHIP-FOR-VOTES" FOR DISPLACED FILIPINOS IN SABAH WAS MALAYSIA PRIME MINISTER MAHATHIR'S BRAINCHILD

"CITIZENSHIP-FOR-VOTES" FOR DISPLACED FILIPINOS IN SABAH WAS MALAYSIA PRIME MINISTER MAHATHIR'S BRAINCHILD POTENTIALLY TO ENSURE THAT THE PHILIPPINE SABAH CLAIM WILL BE 'BURIED' FOREVER

By Admin ADB
For the Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims
30 January 2013

MALAYSIANS ARE ASKING: "Why quiet about Dr Mahathir’s confession?"

The "confession" is all about the "role" of the former prime minister of Malaysia in the citizenship-for-votes scandal in Sabah that has rocked Malaysia. The report is actually misleading because if I am to believe some of the rather influential people I met in KL, the leader who engineered the scheme was Mr Mahathir himself. It was his "baby" so to speak. He was the brain behind it!

I first talked about this citizenship-for-votes -- although without exactly using those words, to the same group of Admins here a couple of years ago when we were first setting up a Sabah forum with some people (who, fortunately, we discovered early enough to be as degrading con artists as PM Mahathir was.)

The 'citizenship-for-votes' was a scheme that Dr Mahathir hatched and put in place in Sabah to ensure UMNO election in the province that would give the coalition control of Malaysia Parliament. I discovered this in the 90s in KL through people I knew there who were in politics and in business (most of them were in both -- the two sectors were inseparable) who were 'in the know' -- it was a kind of an open secret. But no one, absolutely no one in Malaysia politics - or big business for that matter, would dare speak of it publicly out of fear of the all-powerful Mahathir whose men in the Treasury held the purse strings for the party, for government contracts and for almost anything.

Sabah was the gold mine of votes for UMNO for PM Mahathir then. Without Sabah's votes -- hence the distribution of Malaysia ID cards, the coalition headed by BN would have collapsed in the Malaysia Parliament. UMNO was on tenuous ground following the resignation of Hussein Onn in 1981, PM Mahathir's predecessor. Mahathir knew that if a solution was not found, UMNO coalition would explode -- and if UMNO exploded, Barisan Nasional, his party had no chance of controlling Parliament.

The scheme was simple: UMNO rounded up most displaced Filipinos who had fled the Mindanao Secession War in the 70s and who had more or less integrated in the Sabah way of life and offered them citizenship. In exchange, they would vote UMNO in the elections. It worked. Mahathir won 5 consecutive general elections giving him the majority in Malaysia Parliament. I have every reason to believe that the 'citizenship-for-votes' in Sabah existed up to the early 90s (especially after his deputy and rising political star Anwar Ibrahim began to give him a run for his money and began to contest his leadership.)

In the 90s when I began visiting Sabah, I met several Sabahanos who fled to Sabah following the Mindanao Secession War. A few of those with whom I became friends admitted that they were benificiaries of the Mahathir citizenship-for-votes scheme. They had no choice -- they felt vulnerable and so accepted PM Mahathir's/UMNO's largesse in order to be able to stay in Sabah "legally."

Malaysia press hasn't got the 'bite' that Philippine media enjoys and they will find it very difficult to expose the extent of the citizenship-for-votes scheme that Mahathir had organised. According to one Basilan-born Sabahan leader I know and with whom I have remained in contact, he reckons, not counting Indonesians, that there were tens of thousands of Filipinos who had taken advantage of the citizenship-for-votes scheme of Mahathir. He told me that during the general election, it was amusing to see that the queus of voters in the polling stations were mostly people from Mindanao.

Sabah and Sarawak represent the most number of seats in the Malaysia parliament with Sabah delivering every election the most votes for UMNO -- not sure anymore how many (if I remember rightly they were in the 40s) but enough to maintain UMNO majority at election time; this is why Sabah is so important to BN (Barisan National or National Front) leaders who make up the majority in the UMNO coalition which then dominates the Malaysia Parliament.

Sabah votes were Mahathir's Malaysia Parliament lifeline without which his UMNO coalition had a poor chance of obtaining control of Parliament. In fact, even today, PM Najib, who lost in his own hometown in a recent election, without Sabah's gold mine of votes, there is every chance that UMNO, let alone BN, will not win the number of seats necessary to give him the majority of seats in Malaysia Parliament.

Incidentally, in the late 70s, a group of ethinc Chinese businessmen in Sabah tried to organise a "secession" movement and declare an independent Sabah. The repression was ruthless. Some Sabahanos who were originally displaced Filipinos were part of the movement (I know a couple of them very well) but when offered amnesty, they accepted and supported UMNO instead.

Now as to Free Malaysia Today's question: Why quiet about Dr M’s confession?

The answer is simple: PM Najib is still a recipient of the Sabah votes by those who took advantage of Mahathir's citizenship-for-votes scheme. Many of the members of BN today as well as some of the Chinese-Malaysian stalwarts of UMNO sitting in Parliament are also beneficiaries.

Why quiet? Because there is also a risk that if they insist on examining the scheme, Malaysia authorities might open cans and cans of worms that will expose not only the number of people who had been granted Malaysia citizenship for votes but also the long held secret that Mahathir even encouraged the emigration of Filipinos and Indonesians to Sabah with a view to populating Sabah with Malays predominantly to prevent the Chinese (and Indian) population from gaining ground in Sabah politically. 

But I have a deep seated suspicion that there is more to just preventing the Chinese (and Indian) population from controlling Sabah one day -- Mahathir's scheme, I am confident, had something to do too with ensuring that the Philippine Sabah claim would be buried forever.

Originally posted on : Philippine Sabah Claim Forum

=============

REPORT: Why quiet about Dr M’s confession?

By Joseph BingkasanJanuary 29, 2013Free Malaysia Today
Tuarasn MP Wilfred Bumburing is wondering why the Sabah Umno deputy chief is silent on the former premier's admission regarding the IC issue. 

KOTA KINABALU: Pro-opposition Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) has taken state Umno deputy chief Salleh Said Keruak to task for being quick to criticise the opposition but not former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who admitted his role in the citizenship-for votes scandal that has since rocked the state. 

APS president Wilfred Bumburing said Mahathir openly confessed following shocking revelations during the ongoing Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) hearing but Salleh has chosen to ignore this and not challenged the former premier to testify and instead focused on Anwar Ibrahim. 

Full story:http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/01/29/why-quiet-sbout-dr-ms-confession/

Sabah report: West Malaysians still control Sabah and Sarawak

West Malaysians (we call them Peninsular Malayasians in this blog) still control Sabah and Sarawak civil service posts. 

Reason? West Malaysians (who call Sabahans and natives of Sarawak, East Malaysians) -- and that includes Malaysia PM Najib Razak, do not trust Sabahans and Sarawakans for that matter. 


Reminder: current PM Najib is the son of former PM Tunku Abdul Razak who said he did not trust Filipinos back in the 70s.

West Malaysians need to control -- and do control, Sabah in order to be able (1) to exploit the resources of Sabah to fatten up West Malaysia and build KL, (2) to ensure that UMNO, West Malaysia's ruling coalition party, wins every single election and Sabah is key as the province holds the most number of seats in West Malaysia Parliament, thanks to ex-PM Mahathir who, during his tenure, flooded Sabah with flying voters promising relevant Malaysia papers to non-Malays in the 1980s, including to Filipinos; he then obliged the flying voters to vote UMNO.

From the report by Free Malayasia Today: West Malaysians still control Sabah and Sarawak:

“Posts have been given to Sabahans in recent years, but this is just an eye-wash. For over 40 years, posts have hardly been given to Sabahans. 

“Even if they have been given director posts, they don’t have any power,” he said.For example, Majimbun said that most district police chiefs were not even Sabahans.

West Malaysians do not have a high regard for Sabahans believing that Sabahans still 'live in the dark ages.' How do I know? Because West Malaysians have told me often enough of their contempt for Sabahans whom they believe to be unsophisticated, hence inferior, and are therefore incapable of managing Sabah.

Photo credit link: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2011/10/11/nothing-civil-about-the-service/attachment/civil-servants/

How dare Mahathir lecture us on democracy!!!

WE ARE AGHAST! The University of Santo Tomas asked former Malaysia PM Mahathir to lecture us on democracy! 

HAVE FILIPINOS GOT NO PRIDE? HAS THE UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS LOST ALL MORAL BEARING?

Mahathir ibn Mohamad was Malaysia's 4th prime minister and governed his graft-ridden government for more than 22 years. During those years, Mahathir played a key role in the subversion movements in southern Philippines that have continued to plague our country to this day. He was responsible for supplying financial and logistical aid to the MNLF and to the MILF. The training of Hashim Salamat's MILF forces in Sabah (as well as the MNLF under Nur Misuari) to rebel against the Philippine government stepped up during his reign as prime minister.

It was he who made sure that Sabah became the gold mine for voters to keep UMNO in power. He instituted graft and corruption as a commonplace political tool not only in Peninsular Malaysia but also in Sabah to ensure the survival of UMNO in Malaysia parliament. He exploited the resources of Sabah, and used the spoils of Sabah to work against our own country's democratic institutions and indirectly was responsible for the untold number of deaths in our armed forces resulting from the non-stop fightings between the southern Philippine rebel moro groups and the AFP.

And this is the man who dares to lecture us about democracy? 

The University of Santo Tomas should not have asked him to be their keynote speaker. Why should Filipinos hear about the tenets of democracy from the same man who has made it his lifetime mission ensuring that there is no peace in southern Philippines so that we can not claim Sabah back? Why should Filipinos hear about the tenets of democracy from the same man whose politics ensured that displaced Filipinos in Sabah (which we own) should be treated like dogs? 

Have Filipinos got NO PRIDE???

NB: On this day, the 12th of June which marks our 114th independence anniversary, more than at any time, is the time when we should all reflect on the words of the illustrious Senator Jovito Salonga, father of the Philippine Sabah claim.  

"If, despite the assumed knowledge of the validity and justice of the Philippine claim, we fold our arms in mortal fear, we should lose not merely the respect of all law-abiding nations (the United Kingdom and the Asian countries in particular), but also a considerable measure of self-respect — which, to my mind, is more important — and, by our own inaction and timidity, lose our faith in the ultimate validity of that which is right and just."

*UST photo credit: http://www.educationpinoy.com/university-of-santo-tomas.html **Mahathir photo credit: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=816374&publicationSubCategoryId=63