YOURSAY 'We have far superior firepower and we outnumber the invaders. Yet, we seem to be outfoxed and outmanoeuvred every time.'

9 bodies were from Friday skirmish, says forces chief

Kairos: What a shambles. The defence minister, with the home minister by his side, gave the false impression that the 12 dead were the result of the bombings by the Royal Malaysian Air Force on Tuesday.

Don't they know that they were not? How embarrassing. So if they were not the result of the so-called massive military offensive, then could it be assumed that no militants died from the assault? Did the fighter jets bomb the wrong place? Again, how embarrassing.

The whole affair is turning into a comedy of errors at the cost of precious Malaysian lives. What kind of ministers and generals do we have?

We have far superior firepower and we outnumber the invaders. Yet, we seem to be outfoxed and outmanoeuvred every time. What on earth is happening?

Hjsingh: It is so pathetic that the defence minister along with the home minister couldn't even brief the journalists accurately and properly when producing those apparently declassified photographs.

To anyone with a sharp eye and a bit of knowledge, despite the grainy photographs, it was quite clear that the cadavers were more then 36 hours old.

I wonder which pathetic underachiever briefed these two ministers before they opened their mouths and revealed how little they actually know.

Do these two ministers really need to be onsite and distracting security forces from doing their job without having to waste resources guarding, feeding, transporting and kowtowing to them?

Gen2: We should not let the two ministers hold any more press conferences. They tried to give the impression the nine dead were from the bombings on Tuesday.

Now Armed Forces chief General Zulkifeli Mohd Zin said these were three-day-old dead bodies which we already knew about. So were we just bombing oil palm trees?

Anonymous_3e93: Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi was playing politics. He purposely left it vague so as to give the impression that Tuesday's bombardment left many of the Sulu thugs dead when in fact none were killed.

Our F18s fighter jets merely hit the palm trees. This is intelligence failure of massive proportions.

Cogito Ergo Sum: On the TV3 Bulletin Utama yesterday, the ministers were very arrogant and totally unconvincing, showing us still photos and telling us a story about what was supposed to have taken place.

If this this is what BN can offer the people, I am afraid we are in serious trouble if they are returned to power.

BujangSenang: It's best that politicians stay out of this crisis. Whenever they open their mouth, like the one who previously gave out ICs (identity cards) to illegal immigrants, the crisis worsens.

I think the best people to handle the situation are the generals. Politicians should stay out.

Tehachapi: This is no way to command a military operation and putting our armed personnel in harm's way.

It is high time that the ministers get trained professionals to organise and lead such an operation.

A civilian commander in chief should listen to the advice and opinion of the professional soldiers, not the other way around.

Anonymous_4144: Impressive! The bombardment was carried out by F18 fighters with laser guided bombs, there was a naval blockade, and Kampung Tanduo was pummeled with artillery and eight battalions of soldiers were sent in for the mop-up operation.

But what did we hit? Zilch! Lots of firepower but we couldn't outsmart a rag-tag bunch of baddies. Where's the army intelligence?

Do you expect the terrorists to sit and wait at Kampung Tanduo while the army get ready for the assault?

The insurgents have better intelligence. All they need is a sympathetic villager with a handphone.

Cannon: We are witnessing the classic pattern of guerrilla warfare. These gunmen have broken up into small groups and have slipped past the cordon at night before the air strike.

That makes it much harder for our authorities to find them after they have melted into the countryside and blended in with the local population.

Ablastine: It will be very difficult to catch the intruders because they have spread out and blend with the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Muslim Filipinos now already occupying Sabah, courtesy of former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

These terrorists will most likely regroup and with the aid of blue IC Filipinos in Sabah relaunch their attack after the Malaysian army has spent its forces.

In short, they will conduct guerilla warfare trying to wear Malaysia down knowing how weak and indecisive the Umno government is.

They must have decided now is the time to strike because they were able to infiltrate and plant in Sabah millions of their own kind  sympathetic to their cause.

Toffeesturn: The whole country had called for immediate action, it fell on the deaf ears and now this has escalated.

We said more will come if we were not decisive, and now more are actually on their way .

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