Wednesday March 27, 2013

GE13: Ensuring people’s well-being safeguarded

THE STAR SAYS

THE setting up of the Eastern Sabah Safety Zone, as announced by the Prime Minister on Monday, is a step in the right direction to ensure the safety and security of the people in the affected districts.

The 10 districts – Kudat, Kota Marudu, Pitas, Beluran, Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Lahad Datu, Kunak, Semporna and Tawau – will be administered by an Eastern Sabah Safety Zone Committee, set up under the Preservation of Public Security Regulations 2013, and chaired by the Sabah chief minister.

Following the incursion into Lahad Datu on Feb 12 by armed foreign intruders early last month, there has been talk that an emergency may eventually have to be declared in Sabah to help the security forces bring the incident to full closure.

It is to the credit of the Government that it sees no necessity to invoke the law to promulgate an emergency, which would have temporarily suspended the normal functioning of the state government, and may even have ramifications on the upcoming general election.

By setting up the Eastern Sabah Safety Zone, the Government has correctly sent out the message that while we are fully in control of the security situation, we also have to be mindful about the safety and well-being of the residents affected.

That the committee will be chaired by a civilian authority, in this case the chief minister of Sabah, means that it will be making decisions — in consultation with the security forces — that are primarily aimed at ensuring that the people’s needs come first.

While the committee will be empowered to relocate residents from areas that are deemed to be security risks, it will ensure that their democratic rights will not be compromised.

For older Malaysians, such a measure brings to mind the Briggs Plan during the Malayan communist Emergency which saw entire communities moved into “new villages” which were in reality fenced and guarded settlements.

That was essentially a military plan by Gen Harold Briggs to cut the supply of food and other aid to the communists.

Any relocation exercise, especially involving whole communities of people, will be traumatic as it is not only about moving the people physically from one place to another, but will have an impact on their lifestyles and livelihood.

In this respect, the Prime Minister has stressed that the views of the local authorities, from district officers to village headmen, will be taken into consideration to ensure that the people who have to be moved are welcomed by the people they are moving in with.

Furthermore, there must also be adequate facilities for maintenance of public health, medical services and sanitation, besides opportunities for education and employment.

To be sure, this is a delicate process. But it is a necessary one in the light of the incursion, which has exposed security risks not only in terms of where the people are residing, but how some of them could have been used by the intruders to facilitate their entry.

The vulnerability of several settlements to the easy entry of illegal immigrants and stateless persons has been identified as the primary cause of the terrorist intrusion into Lahad Datu and other parts of eastern Sabah.

While mopping-up operations continue, we need to act now to ensure that similar incidents will not happen.

By setting up the Eastern Sabah Safety Zone, the Government is adopting a holistic, and not a purely military, approach to protect eastern Sabah and find a long-term solution.

Life will go in a free, transparent and democratic manner, but with the necessary heightened security in the designated areas to ensure the people’s well-being.

For more election stories, please visit The Star’s GE13 site

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Wednesday March 27, 2013

GE13: Ensuring people’s well-being safeguarded

THE STAR SAYS