Malaysia to gradually reduce security forces in Lahad Datu - report

Claiming Sabah is now safe from any "terrorist threat" from followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, Malaysia plans to gradually reduce the number of soldiers stationed in the state, Malaysia's state-run Bernama news agency reported Sunday night. "I would like everyone to know that Sabah and Sabah's east coast are safe and we've eradicated any threat," said Malaysian Armed Forces chief Gen. Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zainafter briefing Chinese community leaders on the situation. He added that the number of soldiers in Lahad Datu will be reduced and relocated to Semporna or other areas such as Sandakan, though the redeployment will be done in stages. Zulkifeli also said Ops Daulat - the Malaysian security forces offensive against Kiram's followers - will not completely stop. He explained that when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Ops Daulat will end in a few days, what he meant was that it will "gradually be given to ESSCOM, but not immediately." When asked if Ops Daulat will continue after ESSCOM was fully carried out, Zulkifeli said it will depend on the situation. "I cannot say if Ops Daulat will be maintained or not, but we would like to hold on to it because of its significance. It means a lot, especially to friends who have lost their lives," he said. The Eastern Sabah Security Command, or ESSCOM, which was launched early Satruday, has four key strategic areas of operations - intelligence gathering, improving coastal surveillance, increasing capacity to intercept intruders or people coming into the sea area, and increasing capacity to capture intruders who managed to slip into the mainland. Meanwhile, the Ops Daulat media center was shut down on Sunday. Sabah Information Department public relations officer Mohd Kaya Ijjoh said this was after Prime Minister Razak announced that Ops Daulat would end in a few days. The 24-hour media center at Felda Sahabat, was equipped with computers and Internet access, had accommodated more than 100 journalists covering Ops Daulat. However, a New Straits Times report quoted Defense Ministry corporate communications unit media officer Lt. Mohd Hafiz Mohamed Sabilan as saying the ministry would still operate from the media center to help journalists cover the situation. "When the situation was tense, media personnel had wanted to enter the red zone but were not allowed to. Only the army's media personnel were allowed to take photographs and distribute them to the mainstream media," he said. — DVM, GMA News