The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has joined in the fray, with its former chief propagandist Hadji Acmad Bayam stating that its Malaysian-trained commanders will come in aid of the struggling forces of the Sulu sultanate in Sabah.

NONE Bayam told the Manila Bulletin that the MNLF may allegedly have a huge cache of weapons they had hid deep in Sabah after their training there, including  Belgian-made G1 and FAL, which he claimed the late Libya leader Muammar Gaddafi supplied through Malaysia.

He express confidence that the weapons have remained undiscovered by the Malaysian forces as they were kept well hidden by MNLF commanders who had remained in Sabah.

Bayam further claimed that many Filipinos living in Sabah have joined in the fight against what they perceived to be Malaysian “atrocities”, and that many parties are seeking to reach Sabah to help the Sulu forces.

America must correct 'historical error'

Stating there is “no turning back” from the current situation, he, however, expressed hope that the siege will push the American government to correct a “historical error” against the Moro people and resolve the claim over Sabah.

NONE “This is the best time and opportunity. They should seize the fleeting opportunity or lose it forever.

“As the only leader of the free world, the only guardian of human rights, freedom and democracy, the American government has the opportunity to correct the historical error against the Moro people,” Bayam said.

Meanwhile the Manila Bulletin also quoted self-proclaimed Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III ( left ) of accusing Philippine president Benigno Aquino III of abandoning him.

He said he was now relying on the United Nations, United States and United Kingdom for support.

On Aquino’s pleas that the lives of his followers in Sabah be spared, Kiram said the matter now rested with God.

“No more. There is no more preservation... it’s in the hands of Almighty Allah”.

In another development, Philippine police today blocked nearly 70 supporters of the Kiram clan from slipping out of Mindanao to Sabah’s east coast to aid a rebel group under fire from Malaysian security forces, the Philippines Star newspaper reported.

Tawi-Tawi provincial police chief Joselito Salido was reported as saying 67 unarmed followers of self-styled Sulu sultan Jamalul Kiram III from the archipelago’s Muslim-dominant areas in Basilan and Sulu, had earlier grouped in Bonggao town and were ready to ship out to Sabah.

“We negotiated and talked with them urging them to reconsider their plans as this will only contribute to the problem,” Salido was quoted as saying.

He added that Tawi-Tawi provincial police had been ordered to keep a watch on more militants attempting to sail out to back the Kiram camp in Sabah led by Jamalul’s younger brother, Agbimuddin Kiram.

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