TERKINI Dari Pulau Pom Pom [11.30am 17 Nov 13]

Beroperasi seperti biasa...Beberapa pelancong kelihatan masih menjalankan aktiviti di resort di Pulau Pom Pom, pada Sabtu, di mana seorang pelancong dari Taiwan ditembak mati dan isterinya diculik kumpulan lelaki bersenjata, Jumaat lalu. -foto NORMIMIE DIUN/The Star

SEMPORNA: Terdapat kapal Pasukan Petugas Khas yang berlabuh di jeti kayu apabila saya dan rakan sekerja tiba di perairan jernih yang indah di pulau peranginan Pom Pom dengan menaiki bot yang disewa.

Beberapa anggota petugas sedang melakukan kawalan di jeti dan ada yang berjalan di dalam dan luar chalet di mana ahli perniagaan Taiwan Hsu Min Li, 57, ditembak mati dan isterinya, Chang An Wei, 58 diculik oleh kumpulan lelaki bersenjata yang dipercayai mempunyai kaitan dengan kumpulan Abu Sayyaf, awal Jumaat lalu.

Ketika kami berjalan di atas laluan berkayu menuju ke arah pintu masuk utama resort yang dimiliki oleh hartawan balak dari Tawau itu, kami melihat pelancong sedang melakukan aktiviti snorkeling dan bersantai di perairan pantai di pantai.

Mereka kelihatan tenang dan bahagia walaupun dengan kehadiran anggota keselamatan bersenjata.

Walau bagaimanapun, seorang lelaki dan seorang wanita gelisah apabila mereka melihat rakan saya mengambil gambar-gambar pemandangan.

Mereka memberi amaran kepada kami supaya tidak menyiarkan gambar mereka dan mengancam mengambil tindakan jika ia disiarkan.

Kami terus bergerak ke arah pintu masuk chalet yang mana kos satu malam bagi setiap seorang ialah RM650.

Terdapat papan tanda yang tertulis: "Harta persendirian, dilarang menceroboh".

Kami meneruskan perjalanan kerana mahu meninjau suasana di tempat itu selepas kejadian pembunuhan dan penculikan.

Kami bercakap dengan seorang lelaki di lobi utama jika kami boleh masuk ke chalet.

Beliau berkata, "ya" dan kemudian, bertanya: "Adakah anda tetamu?".

Apabila kami berkata "tidak", beliau berkata: "Saya minta maaf ini adalah harta peribadi dan anda tidak dibenarkan berada di sini. Anda perlu membuat tempahan melalui pejabat kami di Kota Kinabalu sebelum anda boleh masuk."

Ketika berjalan pulang ke jeti, kami lalu di lima buah chalet air lima bertiang di mana terdapat pasukan polis di situ.

Kami pergi mendapatkan anggota polis untuk mengumpul maklumat lebih lanjut mengenai kejadian itu dan mengambil gambar chalet di mana Hsu telah ditembak mati dan Chang telah diculik.

Polis dilihat sedang membawa keluar barang-barang dari chalet.

Terdapat juga beberapa warga asing, dipercayai pegawai dari Taiwan. Mereka beralih ke tempat lain apabila kami cuba untuk mendekati mereka.

Seorang pegawai polis memberitahu bahawa barang-barang mangsa dibiarkan dan tidak disentuh oleh lelaki Dbersenjata, menolak khabar angin bahawa motif di sebalik serangan adalah rompakan.

Kamera dan telefon bimbit mangsa masih berada di dalam begnya.

Anggota polis yang kami temui berkata mereka hairan mengapa lelaki itu dibunuh manakala yang wanita diculik.

Beberapa spekulasi menyatakan bahawa seseorang telah membantu kemasukan kumpulan bersenjata terbabit ke kawasan itu, kerana agak mustahil mereka masuk tanpa disedari.

Mereka juga melahirkan kekecewaan atas kekurangan kerjasama yang diberikan oleh pemilik resort dan kakitangan sambil berkata mereka menghadapi kesukaran untuk mendapatkan kenyataan daripada saksi.

Kami meninggalkan pulau itu dengan tanggapan bahawa adalah satu tugas yang sukar bagi pasukan keselamatan untuk mengawal resort itu kerana ia seolah-olah menghargai privasi berbanding segala-galanya.- mStar

KUALA LUMPUR— In the aftermath of the harrowing murder and abduction of a Taiwanese couple in Sabah on Friday, the Taiwan government has expressed deep concern to its Malaysian counterparts over the incident and sent its own representative to observe investigations.

Focus Taiwan reported yesterday that Lee Kun-Ta from Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) had arrived earlier in the day at the Pom-Pom Island Resort off Semporna in Sabah’s east coast to keep tabs on the case.

The media firm noted in its online report that without formal diplomatic ties with Malaysia, Taiwan’s police team cannot get directly involved in the investigation.

Quoting Foreign Affairs Ministry (MOFA) spokesman Anna Kao, however, the report said that the Taiwanese government has already indicated its concern over the case, which Malaysian investigators believe involved terrorists from the Al-Qaeda-linked rebel group Abu Sayyaf in southern Philippines.

“The Malaysian government is fully aware of our concern and Malaysian police are actively investigating the case,” Kao was quoted saying.

The report added that MOFA had also established contact with Chang An Wei, 58, who is believed to have been abducted by the terrorists in the early morning incident on Friday.

Her husband Hsu Lim Min, 57, was killed in the melee.

The Taiwan government has also reportedly sought assistance from the Philippines to locate Chang who is believed to be still alive.

Yesterday, the Taiwan government issued an “orange” travel alert for Sabah’s east coast, warning its citizens to take precaution or avoid travelling to the area unless necessary.

“Orange” is the second-highest warning level in Taiwan’s four-colour code travel advisory system, with “red” advising tourists to avoid the marked area and “yellow” at third place urges travelers to take precautions, followed by “gray” at fourth place.

Unidentified gunmen stormed the usually serene Pom-Pom Island Resort off Sabah’s eastern coast at about 1am on Friday, raiding five water villas, killing Taiwanese tourist Hsu and abducting Chang.

At a press conference earlier yesterday, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said that the police believe that the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf terror network was likely involved in the intrusion.

“We believe the terrorists were able to slip in because there has been a big mobilisation of resources of the Philippine armed forces from the country’s south to the north to help out in relief work for victims of super typhoon Haiyan... they had taken advantage of the situation to commit terrorist acts,” he was quoted by Bernama as telling a press conference after attending a “Sunathon” (mass circumcision ceremony) here.

According to English daily The Star, the couple had checked into the resort on Tuesday and were scheduled to leave the following day.

The resort, which is accessible by a 45-minute boat ride from Semporna in Sabah and just a 30-minute ride from the Philippines’ Tawi-Tawi islands, is located under a kilometer away from a General Operations Force (GOF) base.

The GOF base was among the others set up under Esscom, which covers the 1,400-km coastline from Kudat to Tawau, following the incursion of Sulu militants from southern Philippines into Lahad Datu in February.

Esscom was allocated RM75 million in Budget 2014.

Esscom director-general Datuk Mohammad Mentek was also quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama last September that seven battalions - comprising military and police personnel - would be deployed soon in the Sabah east coast, but did not specify the date.

A group of over 200 gunmen claiming to be the “royal army” of the Sulu Sultanate had landed without trouble in Lahad Datu on February 9 to lay claim over Sabah, using the loosely guarded 40-minute sea passage between Philippine’s Muslim south and the coastal district in northern Sabah.

Their landing had resulted in nearly 80 deaths, including eight policemen and two soldiers, and forced thousands of villagers out of their homes in remote areas of the eastern-most Malaysian state.

Commenting on the latest intrusion, Sabah’s opposition politicians said yesterday that the incident proved the failure of Putrajaya’s security measures at the Sabah border. — AFP

Full article: http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=188451:taiwan-investigators-arrive-in-pom-pom-as-taipei-expresses-concern-to-putrajaya&Itemid=2#ixzz2ks97kTH9
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