The Sarawak Association for Peoples’ Aspiration (Sapa) expresses heartfelt condolences to the family of murdered Sarawakian Bernard Then, and condemns the killing of the kidnap victim, who was a 39-year-old electrical engineer, on Nov 17, 2015 by the Filipino terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.

The beheading of Bernard Then by the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers has drawn widespread reactions of horror and condemnation.

Then was kidnapped along with restaurant manager Thien Nyuk Fun, 50, from Ocean King Seafood Restaurant in Sandakan on May 15, 2015. Thien, who was released on Nov 8 by the gunmen, is now back in Sandakan.

The killing of the Sarawakian victim was totally unnecessary when he could have been released. It only shows how inhumane and careless of human life the kidnappers were.

Failure to effectively secure Sabah’s east coast also exposed the Malaysian government’s neglect to make true the justification for the formation of Malaysia that only the federation could defend and protect Sabahans and Sarawakians from external dangers threats and invasions.

The high point of this failure was the ‘Sulu invasion’ in January 2013 which resulted in a large number of deaths.

What measures has the Malaysian government taken to ensure Sabah is safe, apart from imposing the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) on eastern Sabah?

Esscom merely made this a federal-controlled military zone, taking it out of Sabah’s jurisdiction, and has not stopped the kidnapping of people in Sabah by Filipino gangs.

The need for Esscom reflected the collapse of civil authority in the area linked to the illegal refugees problem plaguing Sabah. The southern Philippines had became a highly destabilised war zone with insurgent groups traversing between Sabah and the Philippines at will to carry out their nefarious activities.

The security threat hanging like the Sword of Damocles over the heads of Sarawakians and Sabahans is a major breach of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 under which the sovereignty of Sarawak and Sabah was handed over to Malaya by Britain and justified as the best form of protection for the two countries from invasion.

The association hoped that the unnecessary taking of an innocent life would not be in vain.

Note: The Sarawak Association for Peoples’ Aspiration is a Sarawak human rights NGO. Registered by ROS in 2013, Sapa had been declared unlawful by the Home Affairs Ministry in November 2014. On Oct 30, 2015, Sapa was successful in its application for a judicial review to set aside the ministry’s order and will actively pursue its aims of educating Sarawakians on Sarawak rights and human rights.