Malaysia attacks gunmen
About 200 Filipinos on a quest are targeted after deaths of security forces.
NEW DELHI — Malaysian warplanes and troops attacked an estimated 200 Filipino gunmen who are claiming a remote part of the island of Borneo after 27 people died in earlier, unsuccessful efforts to dislodge them.
The Filipinos arrived in mid-February on the east coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah demanding recognition of a sultanate that once ruled the area. They are believed to be hiding near a coastal palm oil plantation.
“Our security forces were attacked and killed,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement announcing Tuesday’s offensive. “The government has to take the right action in order to preserve the pride and sovereignty of this country.”
Malaysian authorities had tried to persuade the Filipinos to give up their quest and return to their home in the southern Philippines. But that failed and the confrontation turned violent, leaving nine Malaysian police officers and 18 Philippine gunmen dead in recent days.
The intruders are seeking greater recognition for their clan and an increase in the $1,600 annual payment that Malaysia gives them in compensation for their ownership claim in Sabah, which was leased to the British by the sultanate more than a century ago.
Malaysian news service Bernama reported that the operation involved F-18 and Hawk warplanes as well as mortar fire and a ground assault. The security forces “achieved their objective,” Malaysian Police Chief Tan Sri Ismail Omar told the news service without elaborating, except to say that no Malaysians were hurt. Casualties on the Philippine side were not immediately known.
The quest for past glory is being carried out by a group that calls itself the Royal Army of the Sultanate of Sulu. The sultanate was an Islamic state founded in the 15th century that ruled over a significant part of what is now the southern Philippines and northern Borneo. By some accounts, the founder was seen by his subjects as a direct descendant of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.
By the 19th century, however, the sultanate’s power eroded as Western colonial powers gained strength and Malaysia and the Philippines eventually emerged as independent states. The clan that still identifies with the sultanate resides mostly in restive, impoverished islands of the southern Philippines, while the traditional Kiram ruling family retains no formal political power.