Online petition urges gov’t to help free Abu Sayyaf hostages

comments     Published     Updated

An online petition urging the government to secure the release of two Malaysian hostages held by Abu Sayyaf militants have garnered over 9,000 signatures since it kicked off on Tuesday last week.

However, the figure is still a far cry from the goal of gathering 100,000 supporters for the cause, after which it would be handed over to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak calling for his personal intervention in the matter.

“We plead with the government of Malaysia to speed up the process of securing the release of our fellow Malaysians, and bring them home safely as soon as possible.

“We pray every Malaysian will support our plea for help and sign this petition,” reads the text of the petition.

“We hope to achieve our target of 100,000 signatures for our petition to be handed to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, with the hope that his personal intervention will expedite the process of securing the freedom of both hostages.”

The petition was launched on the iPetitions website on Sept 15, and had crossed the 5,000-signatures mark last Friday.

It is campaigning for the release of Thien Nyuk Fun and Bernard Then Ted Fen, who were abducted from the Ocean King Seafood Restaurant ( photos ) in Sandakan on May 14 and taken to the Philippines.

Fear of beheadings

Meanwhile on Monday, The Star reported that Thien’s wife, Chan Wai See, had been contacted by the kidnappers last month with demands to pay the ransom, or the Al-Qaeda-linked militants would behead Thien.

“Both families are having sleepless nights amid recent reports of beheadings and military raids there.

“The Abu Sayyaf beheaded a Filipino village chief on Aug 11 after his family failed to come up with the one million pesos (RM91,220) ransom,” the report said.

According to a report by Daily Express on Tuesday, Sabah police chief Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman has reassured that the two hostages are still safe, despite recent clashes between the militants and Philippine security forces.

“They are safe and measures are being taken to secure their release,” he was quoted as saying.



Malaysiakini
news and views that matter


Sign In