Fishermen yet to understand ESSCom’s task delegation — Commander

KUALA LUMPUR: There are still some fishermen who do not understand the delegation of duties of the three agencies assigned to maintain security in the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom).

ESSCom commander Datuk Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid said the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM), especially the Royal Malaysia Navy, are involved directly in safeguarding security in the waters under the National Blue Ocean Strategy jointly with two other agencies - Royal Malaysia Police and Malaysian Maritime Enfiorcement Agency.

He said the issue that ATM purportedly wanted to take over the task of safeguarding ESSCom area did not not arise because the task of safeguarding the territorial waters against any terrorist threat was carried out by the three agencies.

“Only the commander is there, we see a police officer... ESSCom is only a secretariat to coordinate operations and streamline assignments on security monitoring of Sabah waters,” he told Bernama.

He was asked to clarify a news report in a local daily which quoted the Fishermen’s Association in Sabah as claiming that ESSCom had failed to protect its territorial waters following several kidnapping incidents recently.

The report also said the fishermen in Sabah has asked the navy to take over the task of maintaining security in the state waters.

“What I have seen is that fishermen who made such claims do not understand the task delegation of ESSCom,” he said.

ESSCom is an area covering 1,400 km of the Sabah east coast from Kudat to Tawau.

It was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on March 7, 2013.

It was established to safeguard the sovereignty and security of the state following the intrusion by a group of Sulu terrorists in Kampung Tanduo in Feb 2013.

The Lahad Datu incident, which saw 10 security personnel killed while 68 terrorists were shot dead, was one of the darkest moments in the nation’s history that reminded millions of Malaysians the importance of safeguarding its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. — Bernama