Malaysian media calls for greater security

Malaysian media calls for greater security

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Malaysian media jostled on Wednesday over whether better security in Southeast Asian seas would keep pirates and terrorists at bay and preserve the steady flow of tourists to the country's beaches.

"Our police force and navy must beef up their strength and step up surveillance," Toman Mamora, editor of the Sarawak Tribune, one of Borneo's leading dailies, said in a telephone interview.

Mamora said a massive public relations exercise would be needed to restore international confidence after 21 people were abducted by gunmen from a Malaysian resort on Sipadan Island last Sunday and reportedly taken to Philippine waters.

The hostages forced onto fishing boats included two French tourists, three Germans, two South Africans, two Finns and one Lebanese, as well as a Filipino worker and nine Malaysians, authorities said.

Sipadan Island is off the eastern coast of Borneo's northern Sabah state. The waters surrounding Sabah are said to be infested with pirates who prey on coastal towns and fishermen.

Even before the kidnapping, many Sabah newspapers had called for enhanced cooperation between Malaysian and Philippine security forces to vanquish pirates in the region. "There will be nothing for foreign visitors to fear once authorities enforce more stringent security measures," said James Sarda, chief editor of Sabah's Daily Express newspaper.

Malaysian Inspector General of Police Norian Mai on Wednesday announced that all foreign boats entering Sabah's waters, especially from the Philippines, would now be subjected to mandatory police checks.

Norian however said that Sabah's vast waters make it difficult for authorities to monitor all entry points.

Many government leaders, including Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, say Sunday's abduction was an isolated incident and have instructed the local media not to play it up.

"We hope the press reports whatever is issued by the government without relying on rumors," Sabah Chief Minister Osu Sukam said on Wednesday.

Major newspapers were mostly anxious about whether the kidnapping would scare off the 400,000 foreigners who visit Sabah every year, many of whom come here for diving and ecotourism.

"The beauty of this island which is one of the world's top diving spots has been marred by the actions of the armed assailants," the Malay-language Berita Harian newspaper said in its editorial on Wednesday.

"The incident on Sipadan Island should be a lesson to all parties that some areas in this country, especially the islands within our waters, are still not safe," the daily said.

Meanwhile, another five people have been detained in connection with the weekend abduction from the Malaysian resort island off Borneo, a police source said on Wednesday.

The five were picked up late Tuesday, bringing the total number of suspects arrested to 10, a police source told AFP.

The five were boatmen and former resort workers on Sipadan and Mabul islands, east of Malaysia's Sabah state, he said.

Five people had been detained earlier this week to assist in police investigations into the kidnapping of 21 people including 10 foreign tourists by masked gunmen on the Sipadan island late Sunday.