KUALA LUMPUR, March 12- Malaysia constantly monitors Philippine media reports on the likely mastermind of the intrusion of Sulu terrorists in Lahad Datu, Sabah, from the southern Philippines, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi(Pic) said today.
“I believe the Philippine media will publish more information. I do not want to implicate any individual. Let the Philippine media say it,” he told a news conference after announcing the 2012 financial performance of the Defence
Ministry, here.
Ahmad Zahid said the named individuals who felt that the Philippine media reports were wrong could sue the media. The minister called on the Philippine media not to write inaccurate reports on the situation in Lahad Datu, saying they could undermine the diplomatic relations between Malaysia and the Philippines.
“I hope they (the Philippine media) will exercise caution and write only the truth,” he said, adding that the Malaysian security forces had not been high-handed in firing at or killing like the Sulu terrorists.
Ahmad Zahid drew attention to a Philippine news portal which had quoted a Filipino national as claiming that Malaysian security forces had dragged Filipino men out of a house in Sandakan, Sabah, ordered them to run and then fired at them.
Asked about patrols in Sabah waters after the termination of the ongoing
“Ops Daulat” offensive against the Sulu terrorists, he said: “As mentioned by PM (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak), we are going to have a permanent camp in Lahad Datu.
“The camp will be similar to that in Sarawak when there was the Rajang Area Security Command (Rascom). It will involve not only the military, but also the police, the maritime enforcement agency and the National Security Council,” he
said.
Najib had announced the establishment of a Sabah Special Security Area which is to be called the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM).
BERNAMA
