POLIS GANAS ? ORANG SULU LARI ?

[GEMPAR] Apakah Berita Polis Bertindak Ganas Ini Benar?

Ribuan warga Filipina dilaporkan melarikan diri dari Sabah dan pulang ke negara mereka bimbang tentang penderaan dan keganasan yang didakwa akan digunakan oleh polis Malaysia ke atas orang Suluk dan mereka disyaki penyokong keluarga Kiram, menurut laporan media Filipina.

Golongan pelarian itu diwawancara oleh The Philippine Daily Inquirer semalam, mendakwa mereka melarikan diri dari Malaysia timur selepas menyaksikan keganasan yang dilakukan pihak berkuasa dalam usaha menghalau penceroboh awal minggu ini.

Seorang pelarian berkata, lelaki Filipina ada yang diheret dari rumah mereka dan dipukul, dan memaksa mereka berlari sebelum polis menembak ke arah mereka, walaupun mereka menunjukkan dokumen imigresen mereka yang sah untuk tinggal di Malaysia.

Laporan juga dikatakan sampai ke Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, yang mendakwa dirinya sebagai Sultan Sulu, dimana adiknya Agbimuddin Kiram mengetuai pencerobohan di Sabah, mengatakan warga Malaysia berketurunan Tausug juga dibelasah di tangan polis, termasuk mereka yang memegang MyKad.

Orang Tausug juga dikenali sebagai orang Suluk yang datang dari kepulauan Sulu di Filipina.

“[Rakyat Malaysia] mendakwa mereka sudah beri ‘toleransi maksima’, tetapi itu tidak benar. Mereka memberi ‘keganasan maksima’ dan itu yang sedang berlaku. Perempuan, termasuk wanita mengandung, dan kanak-kanak juga ditembak oleh tentera Malaysia,” kata anak Jamalul, “puteri” Jacel Kiram, yang dilaporkan di Manila Standard Today.

Jurucakap Kiram, Abraham Idjirani mendakwa seorang perempuan hamil turut dipukul ketika operasi, menyebabkan beliau terpaksa melahirkan anak tersebut ketika ditahan di Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu, tempat di mana penceroboh itu menyembunyikan diri.

“Wanita mengandung itu melahirkan anaknya di balai polis, tetapi anaknya mati selepas itu. Orang ramai diheret oleh pihak polis,” kata Idjirani, menurut Manila Standard Today. “Mereka bukan sahaja menahan orang Filipina dan penyokong sultan, tetapi warganya sendiri.

” Dalam laporan Philippine Daily Inquirer, seorang warga Filipina berusia 32 tahun mendakwa abangnya ditembak mati di tangan polis Malaysia semasa mencari mereka yang disyaki penyokong Kiram.

“Mereka mengheret lelaki ke luar rumah, tendang dan pukul mereka,” katanya melalui panggilan telefon dari Patikul, Sulu, selepas beliau tiba di Filipina Jumaat lalu bersama 200 pelarian lain.

Taradji mendakwa pasukan keselamatan Malaysia menyerang kampung di daerah pesisiran pantai Sandakan di mana beliau tinggal di situ pada malam Isnin, dan di situ abangnya Jumadil ditembak mati selepas diarahkan pihak polis untuk berlari sepantas mungkin.

Menurut The Inquirer, seorang pegawai berkata kira-kira 1,000 orang pelarian meninggalkan Sabah untuk ke Sulu dan Tawi-Tawi, sementara lebih ramai lagi akan meninggalkan Malaysia apabila pihak berkuasa meneruskan operasi menghalau penceroboh Sulu.

Taradji juga dilaporkan berkata pihak berkuasa Malaysia sengaja membiarkan mereka yang ditahan kelaparan jika mereka disyaki mempunyai kaitan atau menyokong pencerobohan Sulu.

“Walaupun anda mempunyai dokumen yang sah, anda juga akan ditahan. Jika anda bertuah untuk tiba di penjara, anda mati kelaparan kerana mereka tidak akan memberi makanan kepada anda,” katanya menurut The Inquirer.

Taradji dilaporkan merupakan seorang pemegang MyKad, dan tinggal di Sandakan sejak beliau berusia enam tahun, tetapi beliau tetap meninggalkan Sabah selepas melihat sendiri keganasan yang dilakukan oleh polis terhadap warga Filipina.

Seorang lagi pelarian, Carla Manlaw yang berusia 47 tahun memberitahu The Inquirer berkata beliau meninggalkan Sabah selepas mendengar berita berlaku keganasan ke atas warga Filipina dan polis sengaja menembak ke arah mereka.

“Majikan saya tidak ada masalah dengan pekerja Filipina. Tapi apa yang membimbangkan saya ialah polis,” katanya lagi.

Datuk Bandar Jolo, Hussin Amin memberitahu Inquirer beliau bercakap dengan pelarian dari Sabah dan berkata beliau mendengar cerita tentang keganasan oleh polis Malaysia.

“Tentera dan polis menyerbu rumah dan walaupun mempunyai dokumen sah seperti pasport atau kad pengenalan, mereka tidak peduli. Dokumen tersebut dikoyak depan mata mereka. Lelaki diarahkan untuk berlari dan akan ditembak jika mereka berbuat demikian. Mereka yang enggan akan dipukul teruk. Warga Filipina di penjara diseksa,” katanya lagi.

“Kita mahu kerajaan menyiasat perkara ini. Pelarian dari Sandakan juga menceritakan perkara yang sama. Jika ini benar-benar berlaku, pihak berkuasa Malaysia tidak hanya memburu penyokong Kiram di Lahad Datu,” kata Amin lagi, menurut laporan Inquirer.

Kerajaan Malaysia berulang kali berkata akan memburu semua penceroboh Sulu di Lahad Datu sehingga semua militan keluar dari negara ini.

Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein mengatakan militan enggan untuk pulang walaupun diserang oleh pasukan keselamatan Malaysia, menurut laporan The Star Online.

< “Mereka tidak meletakkan senjata mereka tanpa syarat, dan ini akan berterusan,” katanya semalam.

“Kita dengar mereka ada memasang jerangkap samar, jadi nasihat saya supaya semua berhati-hati dan keselamatan menjadi prioriti teratas,” katanya lagi.

Hisham mengesahkan jumlah kematian penceroboh Sulu ialah seramai 53 walaupun terdapat lagi banyak mayat yang belum dikira.

Malaysia melancarkan serangan bertali arus ke atas pemberontak Sulu pada Selasa pagi, dan jet pejuang melepaskan bom dan artileri di Kampung Tanduo, tempat mereka berlindung.

Selepas serangan udara, tentera darat masuk untuk melaksanakan operasi “menghapuskan semua militan”, dan pergi dari rumah ke rumah di kawasan berbukit dan di sekitar perkampungan tersebut untuk memburu militan.

Walaupun peningkatan dalam laporan kematian penceroboh Sulu, keluarga Kiram berkata hanya 10 orangnya sahaja yang terkorban, dan mengatakan ia cuma propaganda oleh Malaysia untuk mendakwa mendapat kemenangan ke atas mereka.

Jurucakap Sultan, Idjirani berkata Malaysia perlu membenarkan wartawan luar, terutamanya dari Filipina untuk ke zon konflik di Lahad Datu, untuk mengesahkan kematian penceroboh Sulu.

“Malaysia mesti benarkan media asing dan tempatan ke zon konflik untuk mengesahkan dakwaan mereka, jika tidak, ia masih boleh didebatkan,” katanya dalam The Philippine Star pada laporan Jumaat lalu.

Agbimuddin berhubung dengan keluarganya di Filipina pada jam 2.30 petang Jumaat semalam, menurut Philippine Daily Inquirer, dan berkata mereka masih hidup dan sedang berjalan tetapi menderita akibat kelaparan. -TMI

‘We’re treated like animals’

Filipinos flee police brutality in Sabah

ZAMBOANGA CITY—“They dragged all the men outside the houses, kicked and hit them,” 32-year-old Amira Taradji said on Friday as she recounted her family’s ordeal in Sandakan, which started when Malaysian security forces launched a crackdown on suspected supporters of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III in Sabah.

Taradji said Malaysian policemen ordered Filipino men to run as fast as they could and shot them.

Among those killed on Monday night during the police sweep of a Filipino community in Sandakan was her brother, Jumadil, she said.

Taradji, who was originally from Calinan in Davao City, was among some 400 Filipinos who fled Lahad Datu, Semporna, Tawau and Kunak in Sabah for Sulu as the violence sparked by the intrusion of the followers of Jamalul into the eastern Malaysian state spread at the start of the week.

In other Philippine areas near Sabah, hundreds more have arrived since the police crackdown started and many more Filipinos are expected to return home anytime soon, according to government officials.

Speaking to the INQUIRER by phone through the help of a Sulu local official shortly after arriving in Patikul town by a commercial vessel from Sabah late Friday, Taradji said the police sweeps had become dreadful for both Filipinos and Sabahans known as Orang Suluk (people who originated from Sulu).

Taradji reported the arrest of Filipino men in Tawau and Kunak.

Some of the arrested men, who showed immigration papers, were shot dead, she said, recounting reports by other Filipinos who fled Sabah with her.

“Some of those arrested did not see jail because they were shot and killed,” Taradji said.

She said those who had been locked up were also unlucky, as the Malaysian authorities were not feeding them.

Extreme fear

Taradji had lived in Sandakan since she was 6 years old and she was a holder of MyKad, the identification card issued to Malaysian citizens and permanent residents.

She said that despite her and her family’s being holders of MyKad, they hastily abandoned their home when the police sweeps started Monday night.

She said that from a distance, she saw how those caught during the raid suffered in the hands of Malaysian policemen.

“We sailed from Sandakan to nearby islands. From one island to another, until we reached a small island where we took [an outrigger] for the Philippines. We begged hard so they would allow us into one of the [their boats],” she said.

Carla Manlaw, 47, said the extreme fear of Malaysian policemen, with stories of abuses and killings, prompted her and other Filipinos to leave for Bongao in Tawi-Tawi.

Manlaw and 99 others, including children and elderly people, reached Philippine waters in two motorboats after sailing for about two hours from Sandakan. They were intercepted and escorted by a Philippine Navy ship to Bongao late Friday.

“My employer had no problem with having a Filipino worker. But what bothered me was the police,” she said.

Manlaw said the other Filipinos in her boat fled because of fear. “What will they do to us?” she said, quoting her fellow refugees.

She said that when she heard that a vessel was leaving for Bongao from Sandakan, she immediately grabbed her things and went for it.

Investigate now

Mayor Hussin Amin of Jolo, Sulu, said the accounts of Filipinos fleeing police abuse in Sabah were “alarming and disturbing” and the Philippine government should look into it.

He said he had spoken with many refugees and their stories were the same: Malaysian soldiers and policemen do not distinguish between illegal immigrants and MyKad holders.

“Soldiers and policemen stormed their houses and even those with legitimate working papers like passports and IC papers were not spared.

These documents were allegedly torn before their eyes.

Men were told to run and were shot if they did.

Those who refused were beaten black and blue. Filipinos in jail were executed,” Amin said by phone late Friday.

What’s really happening?

“We are asking our government to investigate now. Refugees from Sandakan and Sabah had spoken to us about their ordeals. If indeed what they have been telling us is true, then Malaysian authorities are not just targeting the Kirams in Lahad Datu,” Amin said.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch also wants to know what is really happening in Sabah.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, issued a statement on Friday saying that while the “situation on the ground in the conflict zone in Sabah is still quite murky,” Malaysia “should provide clear and accurate information on what had occurred.”

Robertson said the Malaysian authorities should “ensure the protection of all civilians in the area, and allow humanitarian access for the provision of emergency assistance to those affected by the violence.

” Detained without charges

“We’re concerned about the Malaysian government’s use of the Security Offenses Special Measures Act to detain reportedly more than 50 individuals, and call on the government to either charge them with a recognizable criminal offense or release them. All parties to the conflict should heed the call of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to ‘act in full respect of international human rights norms and standards,” Robertson said.

Amin said that for now, he tended to believe the stories told by the refugees that Filipino men, especially Tausug, were being killed in the streets and in detention centers in Malaysia.

“Our people are treated like animals there and this has to stop because they are no longer hitting the Kirams,” Amin said.

He said one reason why he believed the stories was his observation that children and women were so “deeply traumatized” that they tried to flee when they saw Filipino policemen as they arrived in Jolo.

“Some (of them) even attempted to jump to the sea, thinking they were still in Malaysia,” he said, referring to scenes at the Jolo port this week.

“I spoke to them and gave them assurance that they were all home and no one would harm them now and the policemen securing the port were not Malaysians but Filipinos protecting them,” Amin said.

Humanitarian crisis

Social welfare officials, who spoke to the Inquirer on condition of anonymity, said they anticipated that more than a thousand Filipinos from Sabah would arrive in the next few days.

One official said the crush of evacuees would “pose a problem” greater than the difficulties caused by the massive deportation of Filipinos from Malaysia in 2002.

Some 64,000 undocumented Filipinos were forced out of Sabah in that year and feeding or relocating them became a nightmare for officials.

Amirah Lidasan of the militant group Suara Bangsamoro said she pitied women and children who braved danger at sea to escape the Sabah violence.

The waters between Sabah and the Philippine areas of Tawi-Tawi and Sulu are known for huge waves that could swamp and capsize small vessels.

Survival problems

Taradji said another problem facing many Filipinos fleeing Sabah was how to live in the Philippines after living for decades in Malaysia.

She said she managed to bring some money to sustain her family for a few days.

But after that, she and her husband do not know how to feed the family, she said.

“We do not even know which way is Calinan now,” Taradji said, adding that the Philippines is now a foreign land to her and her family after living for the past 26 years in Sabah.

Manlaw had the same thing to say.

“We have no future here, unlike in Sabah where we had jobs,” she said.

Like Taradji, Manlaw and the other refugees who arrived in Bongao were being assisted by government agencies.

With reports from Cynthia D.Balana in Manila; and Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao