It is regrettable and disappointing to see that another abduction has occurred on Sabah’s east coast. The Sabah government and the police must initiate emergency measures to prevent such incidents from happening again.

The latest abduction of a Chinese national fish farm manager in Lahad Datu by Filipino militants has shown that the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) is an ineffective organisation and incapable of stopping transnational crime.

A series of kidnappings have impacted the economy, the people’s daily life and tourism in Sabah. The incident has also exposed the flaws in our national defence to the extent that armed personnel could easily enter the country to commit crimes and ignore the existence of police and Esscom personnel.

Other than intensive measures announced by Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman after the state’s security council emergency meeting, Esscom must review its standard operating procedure and step up the defence af the zone.

Besides upgrading the area from a high-risk zone to a curfew zone and other measures, assessment must be made to ensure the efficiency of the measures taken, and armchair talk must be replaced with action.

Sabah and Malaysia cannot afford another similar incident as it has destroyed the reputation of the nation and is hurting tourism in the country.  

It is time to beef up the preventive measures, increase the number of police personnel and carry out 24-hour patrolling to make sure that the foreign militants will not be able to sneak into our country and commit crime again.

LUA CHOON HANN is a member of the MCA central committee.