Common denominator

It is high time that the government addresses the lingering border problem with Kuala Lumpur, if only to resolve the frequent questions raised about the almost predictable presence of Malaysian extremists in volatile parts of Mindanao.

It is also undeniable that the Sabah dispute has been subtly incorporated in most Malaysian government dealings with the Philippines, mainly in the creation of the Bangsamoro autonomous region.

Self-determination of Muslim Filipinos should not be tainted with interference from a foreign interest.

Malaysian operations to persuade or even coerce Filipino policy makers to keep off the Sabah issue through the years are too blatant, but what is troubling is the possibility that fomenting trouble in the south whenever the territorial claim is raised may be part of it.

Zulkifli Abdhir, the suspected brains in the 2002 Bali bombing in Indonesia that killed 202 people, mostly Westerners, was neutralized by a special unit of the police at great cost in 2015.

Sometime in 2014, prior to the Marawi City siege, three Malaysians went on a six-day mission to the southern Philippines to set up an Islamic State (IS)-linked network and never returned home.

Two of them were named as ex-Selayang Municipal Council officer Muhammad Joraimee Awang Raimee, alias Abu Nur, and former Universiti Malaya bookshop keeper Mohd

Najib Husen, alias Abu Anaz, who are now presumed dead.

The mission leader, ex-Universiti Malaya professor Dr. Mahmud Ahmad, was also believed later killed in 2017 during the campaign to retake Marawi City.

Ahmad was high on the terror wanted list following the 23 May Marawi City siege in Mindanao and the trio took an active role in plotting the assault.

Joraimee and Dr. Mahmud joined the Maute group to attack Marawi City. They were key aides of Isnilon who led the attack on Marawi City with the Maute brothers.

On April 2014, the trio flew to Mindanao to arrange for military training and bomb making for Malaysian militants, who would later be sent to Syria to join the IS.

Joraimee was the spiritual leader of Dr. Mahmud’s group, which spread militant teachings and encouraged Malaysians to fight in Syria. They had planned to return to Kuala Lumpur after their mission.

Malaysian police named them among five suspected Malaysian militants linked to IS and the Abu Sayyaf terror group.

The other two were Darul Islam Sabah members Mohd Amin Baco and Jeknal Adil.

The five have links with Marwan who was killed in in the Mamasapano debacle that resulted in the death of 44 Special Action Force troopers in January 2015.

The trio was also most of the time embedded with Isnilon Hapilon, the Abu Sayyaf group leader in Basilan.

Intelligence sources described Dr. Mahmud and Joraimee as “inseparable,” adding they met with every militant group aligned with the IS “Black Flag” ideology.

What puzzles is that the Malaysian terror trio facilitated the travel of Malaysian militants to Syria after training in Mindanao and used Sabah as the backdoor entrance or exit for militants.

On 15 December 2015, Mohd Najib, who was another Malaysian bomb-making expert, was shot dead in a clash with the Philippine military before the Abu Sayyaf could carry out a plan to bomb a new shopping mall in Zamboanga City.

That Malaysia is always heavily involved in negotiations about peaceful settlement in Mindanao is also a point to consider.

The Sabah claim has been indirectly linked to the recent creation of the Bangsamoro substate in which the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that runs the autonomous government had pledged never to touch the Sulu sultan’s claim.

The signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in 2014 even had Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak as witness. The International Monitoring Team on the peace agreement is always headed by a Malaysian military official and majority, if not all, of the peace negotiations were done in Kuala Lumpur.

It is thus very hard to attribute the huge interest the Malaysian government invested in Mindanao for genuine camaraderie.

“That Malaysia is always heavily involved in negotiations about peaceful settlement in Mindanao is also a point to consider.

“It is also undeniable that the Sabah dispute has been subtly incorporated in most Malaysian government dealings with the Philippines.