Versions
differ in Malaysia, Philippines border standoff
(Reuters)
- Malaysian security forces have surrounded about 100 armed men believed to be
from a breakaway rebel faction in the southern Philippines, Malaysian police
and a government official said on Thursday, but a Philippine official said they
were unarmed Filipinos who had been promised land.
The
standoff in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state on Borneo island threatened to stir
tension between the Southeast Asian neighbors whose ties have been periodically
frayed by security and migration problems caused by a porous sea border.
"Our
firepower is more than enough to arrest them but the government has chosen to
negotiate with them so they leave peacefully to return to the south of the
Philippines," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, on a visit to Sabah
ahead of national elections, was quoted as saying by state-run Bernama news
agency.
Malaysian
police said in a statement the situation was under control, but did not say
whether the men had agreed with a request to surrender.
A
high-ranking Malaysian government source with direct knowledge of the situation
told Reuters the gunmen were suspected to be from a faction unhappy with the
Philippines' recent peace deal with the main Muslim rebel group.
Raul
Hernandez, a spokesman for the Philippine Foreign Ministry, said his government
was trying to get information about the incident and was in touch with
Malaysian officials.
A senior
Philippine military official said navy boats and an aircraft had been sent to
the border area. He dismissed the Malaysian account of the group, saying they
were unarmed Filipinos who had been promised land in Sabah.
He said a
meeting over the land claim had attracted a large crowd and drawn the attention
of Malaysian authorities.
"We
know that these people arrived there five days ago and most of them are from
nearby islands," said the official, who asked not to be identified.
"Some
of them were already residents in Sabah for a long time and they normally cross
the border without any problem."
Another
Philippine military officer said the men were followers of the heirs of the
Sultan of Sulu - an island group off the southern Philippines - who had been
invited to Sabah by a Malaysian opposition politician to discuss land issues.
Malaysia
pays a token amount to the Sultanate each year for the "rental" of
Sabah state - an arrangement that stretches back to British colonial times.
The
number of illegal Muslim immigrants from the impoverished southern Philippines
has surged in recent decades, stirring social tension with indigenous Christian
inhabitants in Sabah.
The
Philippine government signed a landmark peace deal with Muslim rebels late last
year to end a 40-year conflict in the south, but some factions have voiced
opposition.
In 2000,
a group of militants from the southern Philippines kidnapped 21 tourists from
the Sabah diving resort of Sipadan. In 1985, 11 people were killed when gunmen
believed to be from the southern Philippines entered Lahad Datu in Sabah,
shooting at random before robbing a bank.
(Reporting
By Siva Sithraputhran and Niluksi Koswanage in Kuala Lumpur; Manuel Mogato in
Manila; Editing by Stuart Grudgings and Nick Macfie)
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