The Aquino administration has condemned the reported abuses inflicted upon Filipinos by the Malaysian police in Sabah, with the deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte describing the situation as “unacceptable”.
This develops as the crackdown on followers of the sultan of Sulu in Sabah has continued following the death of 53 Filipinos and eight Malaysian policemen when fighting erupted between local forces and Islamist Filipinos on March 1.
Speaking on the state-run dzRB radio on Sunday, Valte said that President Benigno Aquino III spoke with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on March 2 and received assurance on the protection of the rights of 80,000 Filipinos in Malaysia.
Raul Hernandez, spokesman of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), told the same radio station that the Philippine government would appeal to Malaysia to treat Filipinos in Sabah humanely.
“If this is true, we will tell them that this should not happen because the safety of the Filipinos in … Sabah is important,” he was quoted today by the Philippine Daily Inquirer as saying.
Hernandez said that Kuala Lumpur has not responded to a request from Manila for an update on Filipino casualties in the violence, which stemmed from the refusal of the followers of Sulu sultan to leave Sabah peacefully.
He added that Malaysia has not responded as well to a request for access to 10 sultanate followers who were captured on March 1 during a police raid in Lahad Datu town’s Tanduao village, where the Filipinos have been holing up.
The Islamist Filipinos, who sailed to Sabah from the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on February 9, are staking their claim to the Malaysian state, which they say belongs to the Sultanate of Sulu.
Another request from the Philippines that has fallen on Malaysia’s deaf ears is for permission for a mercy ship to go to Sabah to pick up Filipinos who want to return home.
At least 93 civil society groups in the Philippines and Malaysia have appealed to Aquino III, Razak and Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram for a humanitarian ceasefire, to ensure the safety of noncombatants in Sabah. They also said that “safe zones” should be set up where humanitarian groups can help people fleeing the strife-torn area.
Kiram had called for a unilateral ceasefire, but Malaysia has continued to arrest his followers and harass other documented Filipinos staying in Sabah.
Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.
