Try and get me, Sabah activist tells Malaysian police

Sabah activist Doris Jones, who is reportedly wanted for sedition over her alleged promotion of the secession of Sabah and Sarawak from Malaysia, has challenged the authorities to "try to catch her".

The Star Online reported that Jones whose whereabouts are currently unknown has no plans to return to Malaysia to face the charge, although she said she was initially unaware of any warrant of arrest issued against her.

She told the news portal that she was also unaware of any summons issued in her name last month to face a charge under the Sedition Act, which led to the issuance of an arrest warrant by the Malaysian police last Wednesday.

She said it was up to the Malaysian authorities to use the proper channels to extradite her.

“They can try to get me in the United Kingdom, the European Union or maybe even Australia. They can try.

“I don’t think Malaysia has any extradition treaties with EU,” said the 46-year-old activist, without revealing her current location when she contacted The Star Online.

Its reporters had been trying to contact Jones via her Facebook account before she called its Kota Kinabalu office yesterday.

The portal reported that Jones was also coy when asked about details of herself.

“I am Doris Jones,” she said when asked if she was Doris Yapp Kim Youn from Labuan, the suspect named in the warrant of arrest issued by the Kota Kinabalu magistrate’s court.

Asked if she was still a Malaysian citizen, she replied: “I don’t want to answer that. I am from Sabah.”

It was reported that Jones had been calling for secession through social media, namely through the Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia (SSKM) Facebook page.

It is widely believed that she is based in London, The Star Online reported.

Jones said that she contested in the May 2014 election for the European Parliament via the United Kingdom-based National Liberal Party on a platform of “self-determination”.

In a Google+ account under the name Doris Jones, it is stated that the owner of the online account "attended University of London and lived in the UK". The account is active and had a few days ago posted news related to the secession movement and action taken against those involved.

Jones, who has a Facebook account that proposes seceding Sabah and Sarawak from Malaysia, has been wanted by the Malaysian police for several months.

In October last year, Sabah police expanded its investigation into her case. Last week, Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman told the media that Doris Jones was also Doris Yapp Kim Youn.

Jalaluddin said police had put up an alert for her at all entry points in the country. He also said she had been abroad for some time.

The Star Online reported last week that Jones, who was little known, is believed to have married in the United Kingdom and that she had worked in a "legal circle”.

She is believed to have kept in touch with local non-governmental organisations through various social media channels, including Skype, to communicate with SSKM.

At least 14 activists in Tuaran and Kota Kinabalu were arrested earlier this month for allegedly seeking signatures from the public and distributing secessionist material. They have been released on police bail. – February 16, 2015.

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/try-and-get-me-sabah-activist-tells-malaysian-police

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Deputy minister warns public not to trivialise national security

PITAS, Feb 14 ― Defence Deputy Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri has reminded the public not to take security matters lightly, by giving room to irresponsible people to bring disorder to the country.

He said armed cross-border crime and terrorism-related violence was now a threat to all countries, including Malaysia, and it would be difficult to contain if they were given the space and opportunity to cause threats.

“The people of Sabah should not fall prey to incitement from certain groups. Their extremist acts will, no doubt open up space to endanger the security of the people and the country.

“The action of separatist group, Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia (SSKM) which is trying to incite the people, is like stirring up a hornet’s nest.

“There is no country in the world that allows separatist groups to move freely, be it an advanced nation such as Britain (Nothern Ireland conflict) which is upholding democratic freedom, or a third world country like Indonesia (Acheh and Irian Jaya),” he said.

Abdul Rahim, who is also Kudat member of parliament, was speaking to reporters at a Chinese New Year event in Pitas.

He also handed out ang pows to 200 recipients, welfare aid (55 recipients) and post-flood relief aid (100) during the event. ― Bernama

Source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/deputy-minister-warns-public-not-to-trivialise-national-security

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Grandmothers suspected of being part of secession group freed

KOTA KINABALU, Feb 10, 2015: After four days in detention, five activists arrested in Lahad Datu for their suspected involvement in the Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia (SSKM) group were released this morning.

SSKM is a group seeking to secede from Malaysia, reportedly due to the alleged unfair treatment by the federal government.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman confirmed that the five, comprising grandmothers Rosina Avellinus and Mary Regina, as well as Mohd Rizwan, Wilson J Moduyin and Milin Biok, aged between 22 and 59, were released on RM2,000 police bail each.

They were nabbed by police last Saturday while filling up their car tanks at a petrol kiosk in Lahad Datu for suspicion in involvement in the Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia (SSKM) group.

This is the second arrest involving activists.

The first was on Feb 1, when nine people were arrested while soliciting signatures for a petition seeking the secession of Sabah at the weekly tamu (open market) in Tuaran about 10am.

Aged between 24 and 50, they were released on RM2,000 police bail in the evening.

Source: http://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2015/02/10/grandmothers-suspected-part-secession-group-freed/

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Arrest warrant issued for SSKM’s ‘Doris Jones’

KOTA KINABALU: A warrant of arrest has been issued for a woman named "Doris Jones’’ who operates a social media-based secession movement called Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia (SSKM).

"Doris Jones" has been identified as Doris Yapp Kim Youn, 47, according to the police.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said the woman is wanted for seditious activities as she was promoting secession through a Facebook page SSKM and other social media networks.

Jalaluddin said that they have put up an alert for her at all entry points in the country. 

However, he did not say for sure if she was operating the page from United Kingdom or other countries.

"I don’t know, some say she in London, or may be Europe. We are on the alert for her if she enters the country,’’ he said, adding that he was not sure if she was still holding Malaysian citizenship or some other nationality as she had been overseas for sometime.

It is understood that the little known Sabahan, who is from Labuan, is believed to be married in United Kingdom and works in a "legal circle”.

She is believed to be keeping in touch with local NGO networks through various social media channels including Skype to communicate with SSKM.

Jalaluddin said that police have set up a special task force and investigating various SSKM-linked postings on Facebook and other social media groups which holds weekly meetings to study the postings under the Seditious Act.

"Each week we meet, a total of 126 investigating papers have been opened over the postings. We have forwarded them to the Deputy Prosecutor,’’ he said, in urging Sabah NGOs not to get to involved in such activities.

He said police also believe that certain Opposition figures were behind the NGOs linked to the activities of SSKM.

"These NGOs are going around with petitions asking people to support secession,’’ Jalaluddin said, adding that the five arrested in Lahad Datu on Sunday were released on Tuesday after investigations were completed.

In a separate issue, Jalaluddin said the dusk-to-dawn sea curfew in the east coast of Sabah that has been in placed since last July would be extended to another two weeks from Feb 11 to Feb 26.

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/02/10/Sabah-Doris-Jones/

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Arrest warrant out for secession activist

The Sabahan is believed to be operating a Facebook movement from overseas.

KOTA KINABALU: An activist promoting the secession of Sabah and Sawarak on Facebook and other social media sites has been issued a warrant of arrest for sedition.

Sabah Police commissioner Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said an alert had been placed at all entry points for Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia activist Doris Jones as she was out of the country.

“Some say she is in London or maybe somewhere in Europe. We are on the alert for her if she enters the country,” The Star quoted Jalaluddin as saying.

He added that he was not sure if Jones, who got married in Britain, was still a Malaysian citizen.

It is understood that Jones, who is believed to be from Penampang, works in the legal sector in Britain . She has family members in Labuan.

She is also believed to be keeping in touch with Malaysian NGO networks through Skype.

“A total of 126 investigating papers have been opened on the postings. We have forwarded them to the deputy public prosecutor,” Jalaluddin said, urging Sabah NGOs not to get too involved in such activities.

“These NGOs were going around with petitions asking people to support secession.”

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/02/11/arrest-warrant-out-for-secession-activist/

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100 members of NGOs to gather and demand release of activists

KOTA KINABALU, Feb 9, 2015: A group of concerned citizens are planning a peaceful gathering tomorrow here to demand the release of five activists arrested in Lahad Datu last week.

The protest, set to take place a stone’s throw away from the Chief Minister’s office in Likas, will also see them hand over a memorandum to Datuk Seri Musa Aman.

According to the programme coordinator, Tony Minggir, about 100 people,representing 25 non-governmental organisations, were expected to take part in the gathering.

“The number may increase as we are expecting friends from other districts to join in.

“We will be carrying placards and calling on the state government to emulate the Sarawak government’s decision to guarantee its people the freedom of speech and religion,” he told The Rakyat Post.

Minggir added that the group would be making stops at several locations in the city.

Last Saturday, five activists, including two grandmothers, were arrested by police while filling up their car tanks at a petrol kiosk in Lahad Datu for suspicion of being involved in the Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia group.

The five, Rosina Avellinus, Mary Regina, Mohd Rizwan, Wilson J Moduyin and Milin Biok, aged between 22 and 59, were placed on two days’ remand, expiring tomorrow.

This is the second arrest involving activists. The first was on Feb 1,when nine people were arrested while soliciting signatures for a petition seeking the secession of Sabah at the weekly tamu (open market) in Tuaran about 10am.

Aged between 24 and 50, they were released on RM2,000 police bail in the evening.

To date, police have yet to officially make a statement on the latest arrest.

“We are not trying to create havoc, but we will organise a peaceful gathering for every arrest made on our activists,” said Minggir.

Source: http://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2015/02/09/100-members-ngos-gather-demand-release-activists/

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Malaysian-trained MNLF fighters join Sulu army

A MNLF leader claims that their forces have a huge arsenal hidden in Sabah's rugged terrain.

MANILA: Malaysian security forces are now facing battle-tested, Malaysian-trained commanders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), who know Sabah like the palm of their hands.

Hadji Acmad Bayam, former chief propagandist of the MNLF, revealed this yesterday to the Manila Bulletin, adding that these MNLF forces may have at their disposal a huge arsenal, which they hid deep in Sabah’s rugged terrain when they returned to the Philippines after their rigid training.

Among the firearms are Belgian-made G1 and FAL, which the late Libya leader Colonel Moammar Gadaffi supplied through Malaysia.

Bayam said he was confident the Malaysian authorities were not able to find the hidden MNLF firearms because they were kept very well by the MNLF commanders who stayed behind in Sabah.

During that training, Malaysian military trainers even joked about the firearms at the MNLF training camp on Jampiras Island, off Sabah, as they turned over Gadaffi’s weapons’ supply.

“We are not even sure if the firearms we are giving you will not be turned against,” the Malaysian trainers had said in a jest.

“Well, speaking of self-fulfilling prophecy,” Bayam said, recalling the jokes of the Malaysian trainers.

Now, Filipinos in Sabah, who are not part of the forces of the Sultanate of Sulu, have already joined the fighting in reaction to what they perceived as Malaysian “atrocities” for killing Imam Maas and his four sons at 7:50 p.m. Saturday.

He recalled that Malaysia’s leadership had even suspected the then chief minister of Sabah, Tun Mustapha, a Tausug from Sulu, of “conspiring” with MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari to secede the oil-rich island.

“You know, if Mindanao is to Manila, Sabah is to Kuala Lumpur,” said Bayam, explaining that Mindanao and Sabah are the “milking cows” of the Philippines and Malaysia, respectively, for their rich natural resources.

Bayam, who yielded to then President Fidel V. Ramos, stayed in Sabah, Malaysia, for nine years before the peace talks with the Ramos administration in 1993.

Bayam stayed in Sabah on-and-off, in 1976-79, in 1980-1986, among other dates.

Breaching the blockades

Further, he said many of the seasoned rebel commanders and rank-and-file members chose to remain on Sabah island to live there.

Majority of them are from Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga Peninsula, but there are also Maguindanaons, Iranons, and probably Maranaos, he said.

A few days ago, he said one of the MNLF foreign-trained commanders belonging to the Top 90 Batch, told him that he was enlisting Tausug warriors and others for reinforcement to the Royal Security Force (RSF) of the Sultanate of Sulu.

“I was trying to contact him yesterday but his phone cannot be reached anymore. I guess he was able to penetrate the Malaysian and Philippine sea-borne blockades in their respective borders.

Bayam described the commander “as soft-spoken but firm and true leader-fighter in actual shooting war.” However, he requested that the commander’s name be not made public.

Last Sunday, Abraham J Idjirani, spokesman of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, said 40 people from Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Zamboanga Peninsula breached the blockades and reached Lahad Datu, Sabah, scene of the standoff that erupted into a firefight.

He said there are many others who are now trying to go to Sabah and help the sultan’s followers led by Rajah Muda Agbimuddin Kiram.

Bayam said that with the way the situation in Sabah is going on, he sees no turning back.

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/03/05/malaysian-trained-mnlf-fighters-join-sulu-army/

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Grandmas Arrested In Lahad Datu For Alleged SSKM Activity; Fourth Such Incident In Sabah

LAHAD DATU: Two grandmothers are among five people who were caught by police at a petrol station in Tungku while refuelling their car on Saturday evening.

Three patrol cars with several policemen inside cornered the vehicle and ordered the occupants out, after which they were handcuffed and escorted to the police cars and driven to Lahad Datu town where they were held for questioning.

It is believed that this is the fourth such incident in Sabah involving people who police claim are linked to Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia (SSKM) movement but has yet to prove it.

Apart from last Sunday’s fiasco in Tuaran where nine people were detained for nine hours before being released on police bail, it is understood that similar arrests were made in Kota Marudu and Ranau previously but the incidences went unreported.

Former Chief Minister and Sabah Progressive Party president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee, who is also a lawyer, said he went to the police station upon being informed of the arrests.

“Apparently these police cars had been tailing them since they arrived in Lahad Datu a couple of days ago,” he said.

“I was told that they went to Lahad Datu to meet some people, but I am not so sure for what purpose,” added Yong who also happened to be ‘informed’ when nine people were arrested in Tuaran last Sunday, apparently for the same purpose.

Being a weekend, the five, aged between 22 and 59 were detained at the police station and on Sunday were taken before a magistrate who allowed a police application for an additional 48 hours on remand.

Yong was quoted by an online news portal as saying: “They were treated like criminals. All five, who have been linked to the so-called secession group, appeared tired, it was so pitiful.

“It was not like they were distributing pamphlets or signing petition at the time. They were at a petrol kiosk filling up the car.”

Yong said when he first met them they were handcuffed, with the two elderly women handcuffed to each other. He said the handcuffs were taken off when they were brought before the magistrate today for a remand order.

Police had requested for four days, but the court only granted two days, their remand ending on Feb 10.

Yong was also quoted as saying that they were told by the police that Inspector-General of Police (Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar) and Sabah Police Commissioner (Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman) wanted the five remanded to assist investigations under the Sedition Act and Printing Act.

He said that apart from the car, police also seized a few T-shirts with the “Hormati Perjanjian Malaysia 63” (Respect the 1963 Malaysia Agreement) written on it, and some leaflets.

A group of people had gathered outside the Lahad Datu police station, holding placards, demanding for the release of the five people.

Source: http://sabahkini.com/grandmas-arrested-in-lahad-datu-for-alleged-sskm-activity-fourth-such-incident-in-sabah/

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