March 16, 2013
Be Grateful and Loyal to our Security Forces in Lahad Datu
by Tunku Abdul Aziz@www.nst.com.my
STEADFAST: They are in the front line risking life and limb to protect the nation
THE Royal Malaysia Police engaged in a series of life-and-death operations against Sulu terrorists in Lahad Datu and Semporna, Sabah, have once again demonstrated that peace and internal security cannot be taken for granted.
While admittedly the task of securing the borders of Sabah will be near to impossible given its geography, we have been somewhat cavalier, particularly in dealing with the movements of the people from southern Philippines.
It is both ironic and galling that while the Suluks are moving in and out at will, West Malaysians who are putting their lives at risk fighting to defend Sabah are treated as foreigners as far as Immigration control formalities are concerned.
Our Immigration laws have to be tightened to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants and other criminal elements from using Malaysia as a base for human and drug trafficking.
Malaysia has earned, and deservedly so, an unsavoury international reputation as a centre for racketeering and trafficking activities. Our enforcement of laws at entry points is at best cursory and at worst derisory. The Kuala Lumpur International Airport is the soft underbelly of our Immigration control. We have made it all too easy for foreign nationals to enter, in a bid to promote tourism. All perfectly understandable, but is the tourist dollar mightier than national security?
The Police have responded magnificently to the deadly threat posed by the
(Sulu) terrorists and it is comforting to see how well they and their military counterparts have been working side by side.
It requires a high level of trust and understanding for two security forces with their different traditions and modus operandi to harmonise the complex operational elements of command and control.
There are not many countries in the world where such an effective integration exists between the Army and the Police in dealing with threats to internal security.
Questions were asked why the Army was not called into action as soon as the incursion was discovered.
The country was not invaded by a foreign army: public order and internal security falls within the jurisdiction of the police and the army is used in support of civil authority on request. This arrangement has worked well in the past.
Let us listen to what others had to say about our Police Force, with its long tradition of public duty in the interests of the nation.
According to Gen (Sir Rob) Lockhart, Director of Operations during the early phase of the Malayan Emergency: “The Police have been and are the spearhead of our attack as well the main source of our defence against the bandits in Malaya.”
Gen (Sir) Gerald Templer (above), who later assumed full military and civil control as high commissioner of the Federation of Malaya, paid this compliment: “I have great affection and admiration for the Royal Federation of Malaya Police force and its component parts.
“They are the people who have been continuously at the business of fighting militant communism all through the long 10 years of the Emergency in their country.”
According to J.W.G. Moran, the author of Spearhead in Malaya, “up to the
end of 1965, 2,890 Police personnel were killed in action, as against the military force’s 518. During the same period, the communist casualties totalled 11,718, out of which 8,678 were bagged by the Police jungle forces”.
Nothing much has changed as far as our Policemen and women are concerned: they are there in the front line, at the sharp end, risking life and limb to secure and preserve peace and order for all citizens, irrespective of race, politics or religion.
They deserve our gratitude for their steadfast loyalty and commitment in protecting lives and properties under all circumstances.
I am pleased that the government has seen it fit to improve the conditions and services of the Police and Armed Forces. They perform a thankless job for such small material recompense. We are able to go about our business in peace and safety because they are there when we need them.
The Opposition’s cyber troopers, who hide behind the cyber skirt demonising those who face constant danger in protecting us, should desist from politicising what is a serious threat to the security of our nation.
If you are incapable of showing patriotism to your country, that is your business, but go elsewhere where you will be happy to peddle your pathologically obsessive hatred for the forces of law and order.This country is better off without you.
Tunku Aziz quotes Lockhart and Templer to pay compliments to our present Police Force. Times have changed and today our Police Force is plagued by ineptitude and corruption.
Let us admit Lahad Datu was badly handled by the Police and the birdwatching Minister of Home Affairs. Eight lives were lost because we thought the ragtag army of the so-called Sultanate of Sulu was in Lahad Datu on a picnic. They would not harm us because they are our Muslim brothers. After all, Muslims do not kill one another. We only make love!
The cooperation between the Army and the Police has always been problematic and must be improved if we are to handle future crisis effectively. We pray for those who lost their lives in Lahad Datu, but we are not unpatriotic if we are critical of the way the Police handled the early stages of Lahad Datu incursion.
Tunku Aziz thinks like the stupid George Bush who once said “you are either with or against us”. He has lost his credibility by becoming an apologist for UMNO-BN. No, that is being patriotic?
There six retired army General joined PKR.Their view on Lahad Datu incident was the failure on our intelligence.Now they (the government) spin the incident to put the blame on the opposition. If we had called the army to handle the intruders,we could have saved the lives of our police personnel.
Due regards to this turncoat royalty,his stats may be correct but was he on the ground during May 13 to realise how well the military handled and supported the police. We were like big brother to the police and the army and its command structure ,principally the late Tun Ibrahim, stabilised the country and handed it over to the people. You have to be grateful for him otherwise we could have been a military state for a long. We the Military have always been loyal to the King and Country so let no body try to insinuate any other innuendos! Yes there are two school of thoughts on whether the Police or the Military should handle armed insurgents.
My take is because it is external aggression then the Military should handle this. By allowing the police to play the main role you are suggesting to the world that this is an internal problem.! But why change to military offensive after initial police intervention?
Do they serve the people or the politicians, esp Umno’s? Not just SB but also military intelligence are used to check on those not aligned to Umno.
“The Opposition’s cyber troopers, who hide behind the cyber skirt demonising those who face constant danger in protecting us, should desist from politicising what is a serious threat to the security of our nation.
If you are incapable of showing patriotism to your country, that is your business, but go elsewhere where you will be happy to peddle your pathologically obsessive hatred for the forces of law and order.This country is better off without you.”
Oh yeah so it’s wrong to criticize the lack of police action when it comes to curbing crimes in Malaysia? My aunt was a victim of snatch thieves, twice. Not only that her housing area suffered from a series of robberies. When she reported the crimes to the police, they answered she shouldn’t have worn a handbag and should have put her purse and belongings under her shirt. No joke. Is reducing crimes not a part to the security of our nation?
It’s a bit rich for Tunku to write about people peddling their pathological hate for the status quo in this country when he himself peddles hate in every single article he wrote. This country is better off without brown-nosers. That includes him.
“Tunku Aziz thinks like the stupid George Bush who once said “you are either with or against us”. He has lost his credibility by becoming an apologist for UMNO-BN. No, that is being patriotic?” – MeePakABU
Apparently being patriotic for these people is to accept or follow things without questioning. If your political masters said you have to jump from a building, you have to. That’s how it is with these people.
It is only somebody with a warped mind and questionable intelligence who will choose to believe that derogatory remarks on our fighting men that appeared in cyber space could only originate from the opposition.
Neither side wants to alienate the Security Forces for obvious reasons.But which side is better known for its fitnah, lies and dirty tactics going by the number of cases they lost in Court. I put to you TA that it is more likely that UMno cyber troopers who disguise themselves as Opposition Blogs are behind these remarks.
this TAAda böleh politician and self acclaimed intellect is still alive thanks to bumno-bn.
”….but go elsewhere where you will be happy to peddle your pathologically obsessive hatred for the forces of law and order.This country is better off without you. Abdul Aziz” …the forces of law and order that killed a poor pregnant woman and who turn on water canons and shoot tear gas on its own peacefully demonstrating citizens? piss off lah you useless and selfish idiot! favourite lines of these super-bumiputra types. what a vile old man. malaysian politics will be better off without proleteriats like you.
We use to undoubtably have one of the best intelligence gathering apparatus in the Special Branch and I think even at this very moment we have intel within the suluk’s,Abu Sayaf’s etc. It’s the, How or what to do with the Intel that we have is being decided by politicians rather than Military Commanders. During the incident in Sempoerna,why wasn’t our Seals Team used, with their inflatable craft, assault along the narrow walking planks are like target practice to the waiting insurgents,during the early days,I have commented that,let the army blow those guys out of that village, someone commented that the area of operation is flat ground,walawei, it’s peanuts compared to Banjaran Titiwangsa when we had to track those commies those days,and I know that well enough.With all the monies spent on equipments for intel gathering,we could have easily pin point the location where the Rajah Mudah was ( during his mobile communications with his sister in Manila ) and just bomb it out,when you take out it’s leader,their will to proceed is lost 50% of the time. I know for a fact that there’s more to this incident than revealed.
Tunku Aziz, Malaysians are grateful and loyal to our security forces. The reason that Malaysians are critical of our security forces is to make sure that they don’t act foolishly and prevent them from neglecting their duties and taking unnecessary risk and incurring loss of life.
Secondly, both the Police and all branches of the military are called DiRaja, like Polis DiRaja Malaysia, Tentera Udara diRaja Malaysia, Tentera Laut DiRaja Malaysia and Tentera Darat DiRaja.Thus they need to be reminded that they are supposed to protect King and country and not serve the political masters agenda.
Political masters come and go but the nation and government of Malaysia will stay.By being critical of the government, Malaysians show that care for the country and would like to keep the government in check. Being critical of the government doesn’t mean we are not loyal. It is the opposite.
You were singing a different tune when you were in TI. What happened? Did BN buy your loyalty? I respect the opposition leaders that have served jail time on trumped up charges. They are the true blue loyal Malaysians and willing to undergo hardship including jail time and ISA, all for the love of Malaysia. You, on the other hand, seems to be like the joget lambak girls, dancing with the clients that showered you with the tickets.
Enough lah Tunku, time for you to retire and move to your little island, Pangkor-Lumut, and go fishing.
This Tunku Aziz must be giddy after a bout of his favorite drinks.No one ever doubted the contribution of the armed forces and the police.What was criticized was something else.Things like why take so long for the goverment to act,why the police not the army handling external aggression,what has gone wrong to military intelligence or even our SB etc,etc..it’s has got nothing with Malaysian not being grateful to them.
Its time for this man to stop talking less he will be classified as a “Nyayok” old man.
“If you are incapable of showing patriotism to your country, that is your business, but go elsewhere where you will be happy to peddle your pathologically obsessive hatred for the forces of law and order.This country is better off without you.”
Good Lord ! No one has a monopoly on patriotism. Never thought this frog prince would go this low. We can understand your strict upbringing by your policeman father but you are triviliazing the role of the security forces.
In any armed conflict there will be casualties as lives are put in harm’s way. Can we not put our full support behind the government? Let the talking heads among our retired Generals give their views.
Over here we have retired chiefs from the military and CIA give their views. No one call them unpatriotic and label them traitors just because they have differing view points.
Tunku Aziz, if his brain is not contaminated with UMNO-BN rubbish, should know that Malaysians loyalty to our troops is NEVER in question… in fact, he cares to read, if he still reads NON-UMNO media, that Malaysians are in grief when one of our solders or police lost his/her live in defense of the country.
What Malaysians are pretty pissed off is the questionable policies and decisions of the NON-military leaders such as the Minister of Defence, and the HOme Minister and the silence of the Prime Minister at the beginning and height of the Lahad Datu Incursion which put the lives of our troops and security forces in greater mortal danger than it already is.
As one commentator said, the loss of 9 lives in the relatively one-sided fire fight involving the full might of our police and military against the less well armed invaders is just TOO MANY.
In the minds of Malaysians, the non-Military leaders especially the politicians should GET OUT of the way of the operations and let the MILITARY do their job.
And in the first place, this is an attack by ARMED FOREIGN nationals on our Constitution and our Agung,… it is essentially an armed aggression against the country, and therefore it is a MILITARY operation.
The HOme Minister has NO business in trying to take a primary and lead role and involving the Police force to face these armed invaders.That is the job of the military. The POLICE mandate in our constitution is to ensure safety of the citizens while the MILITARY sort out the invaders. NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND.
The HOME MINISTER’s misguided sense of responsiblity is one reason why we had a high casualty of our security force when the firefight first started.
While this is going on, the Prime Minister is hopelessly silent while his cousin puts our POLICE PERSONNEL on the front line to face the armed invaders.
Tengku Aziz should get out of his myopic sense of patriotism and stop implying that Malaysians are not loyal to the troops.
Each life of our soldiers and police in defending our country is very precious, more precious than the mother-hood rhetoric coming out of the Tengku Aziz’s mouth and the mouths of UMNO leaders who are trying to justify their poor handling of the incursion by foreign nationals.
I say again, let our Military to the job when there is an organised and concerted armed attack on our sovereignty, and NON-military politicians like the Home Minister should GET OUT OF THE WAY, and stop trying to get photo-ops while the fire-fight is going on.
No question about about being grateful to men who risk life and limb. No need for anyone to remind us this especially from politicians who have been on each other’s throat half their waking hours. It is a sad commentary on life that those who are most corrupted, including those within PDRM, are safely ensconced somewhere while the real heroes awaited orders from above and got cut down by bullets not from phantoms but real terrorists. Waited they did and some paid with their lives.
Now the cruelest and unkindest cut of all to those who died and their families, is this patronising hint that Malaysians are an ungrateful lot and incapable of behaving like normal human beings, and need to be reminded by a man who must soon become ‘a man for all political seasons’.
The real Tunku Aziz is of course – he is now, at last, talking and behaving like a real politician.
With best wishes for a clean fight to bring the best out of all Malaysians, to push ourselves to our utmost just to make sure we don’t play second fiddles to Singapore anymore. We have the talents and resources, and we certainly don’t need Najib to show the way any longer.
Grateful and Loyal? By someone who is now proven to have his hand in the Altantuya murder and hence Scorpene corruption and had his bodyguards take the blame for it? In ANY REASONABLY GOVERNED COUNTRY, he would have had to resign IMMEDIATELY.. He has broken so many serious law and likely include TREASON, he want to talk of grateful and loyal? He KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT IT..
No doubt about it! I support our security forces wholehearted when they defend the rakyat’s safety and rights and the country’s sovereignty.
Just don’t equate UMNO or Barisan Nasional with our security forces. UMNO and Barisan Nasional are NOT on my list of what or who I support.
UMNO and Barisan Nasional are just a bunch of dirty politicians out to line the own pockets with absolutely no regard with human lives others their own, much less the security forces’. Our security forces put their lives at stake for the country but it is a pity UMNO and Barisan Nasional dictate whether they live or die.
Bigjoe,
Unforrtunately Malaysia is no Japan. Wait a minute! Madhater implement Look East policy. He has forgotten that the top leaders commit harakiri for every single mistake they make. As for Najib, what you can expert from that cojonesless guy? I would rather prefer Jim Hacker to be PM of Malaysia
Tunku Aziz is nothing but a sophisticated, irrational intoxicated with his own verbosity.
No one is casting aspersions on the security forces. This hack can’t even get it right.
What we are questioning is the Lembek processes and inane decisions – as all of the commentators here have pointed out. It was handled incoherently, incompetently and incomprehensibly in confusion when the political powers chose lightly armed internal security forces to combat a foreign heavily armed invasion force, skilled at deception, ambush and guerrilla warfare. The initial lackadaisical and childish attitude displayed, is a consequence of being out of touch with the realities on the ground and the paucity of real-time intelligence.
Being distracted by internal political Armageddon, is no excuse for being unable to focus on external security threats. This FLOM sucking village penghulu, made the wrong call. It’s as simple as that. He resembles a geoduck burrowing in the sand in the Pacific North-west!
In any armed conflict, there is bound to be casualties – but not casualties that were literally ‘Lambs led to the Slaughter’, which happened in Sempoerna. Which brings to mind, Alfred Tennyson’s ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’..
CLF,
That calls for folks over here to watch this wonderful performance, titled “Lions for Lambs” starring Robert Redford. Whatever that has transpired over in Lahad Datu incident reflected clearly in the movie itself. The only difference is that Jasper (The President hopeful) is more competent & decisive than that cojonesless Najib.
But then again, I won’t be surprised if BN can still win
In the past he looked at us with his eyes into our eyes. But ever since his political shift he is looking at us with his nose. In my book criticism of the government is the highest form of patriotism. We are not anti government as he makes us out to be. We are all supporters of government because it is our government. We are only questioning what they do and if there is not a better way to skin the cat.
Anyone with a little grey matter would have figured out why the Brits deployed Malayan police to fight the Malayan insurgents. The rebels labelled the Brits as imperialists and fighting them outwardly with British troops will mean losing the propaganda war. Using the Malayan police which is staffed with locals and cmmanded by Brits would after all save a many Brits as well. So it is not just what Tunku Aziz said because the police were good. It is due to the fact they were the more suitable arsenal in fighting a political battle.
By the way the Malaysian police are no where close to their predecessors who were disciplined and respected and faced reprisals daily from the insurgents. The current corp is better know for their biases, rapes, theft, corruption, etc…
America closed ranks when the Pentagon, World Trade Centre towers were attack in 9/11. The Brits did the same during the Falklands war. But that did nit stopped the Americans nor the Brits from criticizing the conduct of the two wars. How could anyone not burst out with criticism when George Bush land on a warship with a banner reading ‘mission accomplished’ just after a bout of bombing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Critics were right when ut turned out the Iraq occupation recipes in more American deaths than the total killed in 9/11.
So for Tunku Aziz the Trojan horse, patriotism is a monopoly of Umno Baru and it’s underlings. Anyone outsider this phere is unpatriotic. We don’t such mercenaries.
MT Lai
The British set up the police force to only protect the then ruling class and the VIPs and the VVIPs period.