INTERVIEW The Lahad Datu incursion last year remains a black mark in the nation's history but former Sabah police chief Ramli Yusuff said if he was at the helm during the crisis, he would have wasted no time hitting the foreign intruders quick and hard.

Ramli, born in a leap year 62 years ago, said if he was in charge, he would never allow armed invaders to prevail.

“I would straight away (have my men) kill them. No negotiations in matters of security - if it is confirmed they are armed intruders, we whack them.

“I do not negotiate,” he said, when asked how he would react to that armed incursion.

The former senior police officer, who rose to number three in the police force before his retirement, added that there was no compromise when it comes to the country's sovereignty.

In last year's armed incursion, the authorities moved in on the Sulu invaders on March 1, after the intruders had holed up at Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu for almost three months.

“As far I am concerned, when it comes to internal security, the commissioner of police of Sabah is in charge of operations, as he looks after the security of the state.”

Ramli was Sabah police chief from 2002 to 2004, and prior to that he had served as the Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (CID) deputy director for seven years from 1994. He later progressed to become Pahang chief police office (CPO) and later Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) director.

As Sabah police chief, Ramli said he took three months in 2001 to clear the illegal settlements during the state-wide Ops Nyah II in all 20 police districts.

He said the police worked with intelligence gathered from the ground in identifying which houses held the illegals and acted against them.

Within three months, thousands of squatter areas were cleaned and demolished from Pulau Gaya, Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Kudat, Marudu, Beluran, Kinabatangan, and Semporna, said the former Sabah CPO, showing aerial pictures of the clampdown on the settlers.

“During that time, the police, army, Rela, immigration, and marines, were with us in mounting the operation and moving into the villages, where many had weapons. If the police were to move on their own, it would be dangerous. In some of the places, it was like moving into fortresses as they were well armed.

“When we moved in, we documented the illegal immigrants by taking their photographs and fingerprints. This was to make sure that they did not come back illegally, with false papers and passports with new names. We warned employers that if they wanted to hire them, to do it legally.”

Death threats

Ramli said biometric documentation was done when he was Sabah police chief, and police would keep a copy while another was handed to the Immigration Department to deter the illegals from coming back. If they returned and were caught, they would immediately be deported.

“All in all, we sent back hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and we charged another 100,000 who did not have documents. The courts were packed with these cases,” he said.

Ramli added that if the illegal immigrants surrendered willingly, the police would deport them without them being charged.

As a result of his stern actions, Ramli revealed he received death threats, and showed an article from the New Sabah Times on this ( right ).

“They dared to call my office to threaten me. But that did not deter me. I continued to hit them harder. I suspect it was foreigners or illegal immigrants who had called following the arrest of their relatives.”

He said as a result of the strong action taken against the illegal settlers during his time, crime went down by 30 percent in Sabah in 2002.

“The illegals were drug addicts, drug pushers, criminals. They were a major cause of crime. When we hit them hard and sent them away, crime rates immediately dropped,” he said with quiet pride.

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