Esscom’s sea of troubles (Despite RM660 Million Budget!!)

 

Esscom’s sea of troubles


KK, Sept 19 — Regular abductions despite (ESSCom) raising fresh questions about agency’s function.

UMS senior lecturer Wan Shawaluddin said continued occurrences meant criticism and doubts

“statistics speaks for itself. Five incidents (this year), not including the border. 

funding and assets are not always utilised to its optimum capacity

abductions rarity prior to ESSCOM in 2013. 

In 10 years before ESSCOM total of seven kidnappings 

Esscom mooted after Tanduo, Lahad Datu.

nine months after formation five kidnappings took place 

dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed in east coast.

led to a year without incident

militants returned, seizing manager and patron in Sandakan in raid during dinner

Thien Nyuk Fun, restaurant manager released

Bernard Then beheaded by Abu Sayyaf, negotiations went awry.

Sabah experienced another five kidnappings in last six months

including five Malaysians and at least six Indonesians still captive.

Paper tiger?

ESSCom sufficient resources, not all were suited for its use.
Others also needed to be restored or refitted before they could be deployed.
vessels old and underperforming due to several reasons.  

big allocation to ESSCOM but take time for assets to be in service

RM660 million for Esscom in Budget 2015

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (RM433.2 million)

Malaysian Armed Forces (RM83.5 million) 

Royal Malaysian Police RM78 million.

(OSTB : Thats a total of RM1.25 Billion !!)
RM65.9 million allotted to ESSCOM

leadership plays huge role

lack of intel-sharing between agencies

big problem when it comes to enforcement

Retired SB Dep Director Leong said two SB units in Sabah and heading Esscom not talking” to each other, leading to criminals taking advantage 

statement refuted by Sabah police commissioner Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman.

(OSTB : I say brader, tak boleh lah main merajuk macam prima donna. This is incompetence.)

early success foiling 15 kidnapping - quality intelligence, rapid response from previous commander.

Abdul Rashid Harun, experienced police officer was replaced at ESSCOM by Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid.

firm hand in security operations is crucial 

not about meetings, procedures, bureaucracy. 

new chief needs to be close to ground, both community and officers

Herculean task

ESSCOM’s lack of success - monumental nature of its task.

spans from Sandakan to Tawau, 1,733km coastline, 31,158 sq km, 362 islands.

smaller islands close proximity to Philippines, compounds problem.

takes few minutes to reach Philippines from Tanjung Labian in Lahad Datu, Tambisan in Sandakan, Pulau Mataking in Semporna or Sebatik in Tawau.

speedboat could escape into hiding in Sitangkai island in 15 minutes, 5km away

Tawi-Tawi is only 27 nautical miles from Sabah, visible from Tambisan

Fallout from Duterte’s war

proximity to Philippines, threats will continue to hound Sabah

unrest and war from Manila on the Abu Sayyaf exacerbate situation 

situation likely get worse before it gets better.

“His (Duterte’s) actions will make him a target and anger the militants. They will retaliate and we will likely see a war before any stability. It’s only a matter of time before they start to flee here,” he said.

militants seek refuge in Sabah

relatives, friends here, can hide easily. 

To them, Duterte is more dangerous than Esscom. 

choose to flee here than face Duterte

(OSTB : And Duterte has much, much less money than the RM660 million spent on ESSCOM).

unfortunate because this problem didn’t start with us. 

We bear the burden of the instability and volatility in Southern Philippines

(OSTB :  Not exactly. We started Project IC. We brought them into Sabah, kononnnya to increase the Muslim vote bank. We created this problem. They brought their culture with them - guns, violence, no respect for the law.  Now our Police boys are merajuk-sama-merajuk and dont know how to handle the problem.)

kidnap-for-ransom groups had strong intelligence 

quick to study security forces’s strategy, operations to their advantage.
They take note of weaknesses in Esscom to their advantage. 

question is if there is a leak in ESSCOM.  

won’t be surprising, there are moles in any intelligence network

(OSTB : I can tell you this - after ESSCOM was set up (2013??) a friend of mine here in KL who had just visited Sabah told me that people in the coffee shops can tell you what time the patrol boats leave the jetty, what time they come back, where they patrol and more importantly where they do not patrol.)

ESSCOM: Help us help you

Esscom urged boat operators to install Automated Identification System (AIS) 

(OSTB : On top of that RM660 million? Menyusahkan orang brader. Be realistic ok. People have no money for your fancy ideas.)

Wan Bari said it was up to community and public to help prevent such incidences.

(OSTB : I say Wan Bari, this is a very 'tidak apa' attitude.  Then why do we need you? You are now blaming the people for not doing enough to prevent themselves from being kidnapped, beheaded, shot or raped? OK fine, give the people that RM660 million - I am sure they can all put AIS in their boats, buy guns and ammunition, hire security guards etc and defend themselves.)

latest abduction of three fishermen blamed on absence of AIS beacon 

police said AIS could have given ESSCOM enough time to intercept 

(OSTB : This is a tidak apa attitude again.  Can you guarantee this? What if after people buy the AIS and they still get kidnapped?  Who has the contract to supply this AIS?

Why not explore methods using cell phones?  If no signal in the sea, get the gomen / mobile operators to increase the coverage.  From what we read the distances are very close from shore. Set up a dedicated 3 digit ESSCOM hotline 911, 969 etc which people can call that can also locate the GPS of the caller / cell phones. We can include a silent alarm feature. Can our mobile phone operators chip in on this? You know it can be done. Tolong lah sikit. People are getting kidnapped.)

“The deterrence factor is with the community or the public who create the opportunity. The response is with the security forces, but the blame always falls on us,” he said.

(OSTB :  It looks like you are blaming the public. This is like the retards saying that women are responsible for being raped.  I say Mr Policeman, houses with grills, locks, alarms and CCTVs also get robbed.  Dont be so naive.  If you are in a boat with a 50 horse power engine and the Abu Sayyaf come in a 200 horse power boat with machine guns, hang nak deterrence apa? You dont have a chance. Do your job. Dont be lazy. And dont be corrupt. That angle has not been explained in this article.)
 

imperative that public on board with authorities, but onus was with latter 

definitely need one agency whose function is to coordinate the east coast. 

need to win people over into cooperating and help the process.

benefit of involving people it makes them less critical because part of solution

OSTB : I see only one thing - INCOMPETENCE.  And corruption.  

There are well known escape routes, smuggling routes in that area. These places are the 'hot zones'. Also those areas closest to the Philippines and Indonesia. They must be patrolled more frequently or permanently "picketed" (meaning patrol boats 'parked' at certain spots.)   Inspection 'bottle necks' must be created in the sea lanes  and all boats in the area must be required to pass through the bottle necks for inspection. Any boat not passing the inspection points must be shot at.  I believe these things have all been done before - more effectively and by other people. Why cant our people do the same?