‘Govt to review security in Esszone’
KOTA KINABALU: Any decision, including proposals to strengthen security in the Eastern Sabah Safety Zone (Esszone), will be reviewed by the Pakatan Harapan government before it is implemented.
Silam member of parliament Datuk Mohammad Din Ketapi said he believed the government would review the defence necessity, especially under the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom).
“If it is needed, security will be increased.
“But, if it’s not needed, we will reduce (assets and financial expenditure).
“However, the priority is to ensure our security (is maintained).
“We will look at the situation… At the moment, the situation is not that bad (as we can manage threats),” he said yesterday.
He said cross-border incidents, such as kidnappings, had occurred prior to the intrusion of Filipino gunmen into Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu, five years ago.
He said placing hundreds of military personnel and spending hundreds of millions of ringgit on assets seemed to make Esszone a combat site, stressing it must be justified.
“At the moment, there isn’t any proposal because we want to review the issue first.
“If there is a need, we will make a resolution.
“We don’t need to spend excessively like what the previous government did.”