The "terrorist" label used by Putrajaya on armed intruders in Lahad Datu was an appropriate description of their actions, said Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said that although the Filipino foreign ministry had objected to the term, the fact was that the intruders were armed and used terrorist tactics.

"They (Philippines) wanted us to use the term 'militant intruders' but they (followers of the self-claimed Sulu Sultan) behave like terrorists.

"These are diplomatic terms. I believe that any armed intruder in our soil are behaving like terrorists," he told a press conference today.

NONE Ahmad Zahid was commenting on the Sabah government's instruction to local media organisations to lable the intruders as "terrorists".

The order was issued by Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman on behalf of the Sabah Security Committee, which he heads.

"Use the term 'terrorist' instead of 'intruder'; Don't use the term 'sultan' as if we recognise the fact," read the brief notice.

Newspapers licences in Sabah and Sarawak are controlled by the respective state governments.

Yesterday, Bernama had quoted Ahmad Maslan, the deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department, as saying that the intruders who have terrorised others should not be likened to a respectable group like an army.

"Stop referring to that terrorist group as the royal army of the Sulu sultanate ... it is also inappropriate to link the Sulu community in Sabah with the group,” he said at a meeting with Suluk community leaders in Lahad Datu on Saturday night.

   

"Evil has nothing to do with race. One can be evil because of greed, power greedy, with shallow religious faith and possess animalistic character."

Additional reporting by Lee Long Hui

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