Ex-army general slams govt’s handling, demands apology
March 13, 2013
| Harakahdaily, | 13 March 2013 |
Mar
13: Failure of Malaysia’s military intelligence is the main reason
behind the current conflict in Lahad Datu which has so far claimed the
lives of 10 Malaysian security personnel including two soldiers, said
retired army deputy chief Lt-Gen (Rtd) Abdul Ghafir Abdul Hamid (pic).
Ghafir told a forum yesterday that this happened because the
military had been used for political purposes and thus lost its focus.
He also said the government committed a serious mistake by
dispatching policemen instead of military representatives to negotiate
with the armed intruders from the Philippines.
He also echoed widespread criticism over the government’s handling
of the whole episode, saying it should have taken immediate action to
defend the country upon discovering that the intruders were armed.
“The government said we obeyed the Geneva Convention. This does not
make sense as the intruders were clearly armed. The army is needed to
defend national sovereignty when breached. But our government used
lawyers here and there and in the end, ended up using the police to
negotiate,” he said.
“If some robbers enter our house, between a broom and a gun, which should we use? It’s the gun of course,” he chided.
Ghafir further claimed that the government had been caught
off-guard in the Lahad Datu intrusion because of intelligence failure.
“The government made a mistake but there has been no apology
forthcoming. We should demand the government to apologise to the people,
especially Sabahans, for failing to act timely leading to casualties,”
he added.
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