Malaysians in Sabah are very concerned over the fate of two fellow Malaysians who were abducted off Semporna Coast as three weeks have now passed without any new development.

Sabahans in particular are equally concerned over the statement made by the Sabah Commissioner of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim.

So far, there has been a kind of uncertainty in the people’s mind not just about the two missing Sabahans but also the way the police authority is handling the pirating issue in Sabah.

According to media reports, the two Sabahans, the manager and supervisor of a seaweed farm were abducted at night from their seaweed farm in Pulau Sebangkat about 8 km off Semporna coast on Jan 7.

Noor Rashid said that the abductors were using rifles and machetes and escaped with a ‘pump boat’. A pump boat (above) is a small, lightweight boat, predominantly used by Filipinos in this part of the region.

In his statement on January 11, Noor Rashid said the abductors were still in Sabah. He also mentioned that all exit points have been sealed off and surrounded by police and other agencies, such as the Royal Malaysian Navy and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.

He was informed that it was unlikely for the abductors to escape. He was also of the opinion that the abductors could be locals whose interest was purely money. Earlier, before the incident, it was said there was a quarrel among the workers over their wages and that could be the reason for the abduction. Gods knows!

As such, the abductors aren’t belonging to any terrorist group like the Abu Sayyaf of southern Philippines. So what can we make out of the Sabah Commissioner of Police’s statement so far?

To me, the police chief is underestimating the gravity of the incident.

He is portraying to the general public in Malaysia that the incident is a small and trivial as for example, the abductors used rifles and machetes which is not typical of pirates or Abu Sayyaf members thus giving the impression that this is not a serious incident. Since the abductors weren’t using an automatic weapons it means that they are petty offenders. And the abductors are local.

With regards to using a pump boat (right), Noor Rashid must be mistaken as to its efficiency both in deep as well as in shallow water. Ask any one who is familiar - it is, in fact, very capable of crossing the Sulu Sea with very little difficulty.

My rebuttal is that the abductors aren’t Sabahans because Sabahans aren’t allowed by our authorities for some time now to use pump boats. We Sabahans still think that the abductors are Filipinos from the notorious region of the Southern Philippines.

It is also hard to imagine that the Sabah police and other enforcement agencies could seal off all the exit points along 1,500 km of coastal area of the Sabah east coast. If, in fact, police and other agencies could seal all exist points, why then as of now they can’t stop the illegal immigrants from coming in?

It is also to everyone’s knowledge that our marine enforcement units aren’t that efficient in responding to an incident of this kind due to a logistics problems. Assuming that the marine enforcement unit’s boat was docked in Tawau at that time, imagine again how long it would take to reach Semporna? By the time it reaches Semporna’s coast, the abductors are already having their barbeque somewhere in the Philippines.

And according to my source, only about 50% to 60% of the number of marine enforcement boats are serviceable in the state. Therefore, to the Sabah public who are familiar with situation in Sabah’s east coast, it is unlikely for anyone to catch up with a pump bout after a lapse of about two hours.

There is also no logic for the abductors to stay put in Sabah knowing they could reach the nearest safe haven in less than two hours. Among the other problems, according to my friend, the police personnel from the Peninsula who are posted to Sabah are less knowledgeable not only about places but also about the people. Yet when talking about distribution of senior police officers, of all the seven police departments in Sabah, only one department is headed by a Sabahan.

Of all the twenty district police chiefs, only four are headed by Sabahans. There are no Sabahans heading any police district in the Peninsula.

This is not to undermine or to belittle the police’s ability to police Sabah waters in the east coast but in my view, tackling the pirate problems here requires some degree of knowledge in identifying who are Malaysians and who are not, besides being knowledgeable about the intricacies of pirating.