| PM
OPTIMISTIC ABOUT PEACEFUL SOLUTION TO HOSTAGE CRISIS KOTA KINABALU, July 28 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad Friday
expressed confidence that the Sipadan hostage crisis, which has dragged on for more than
three months, will eventually see a peaceful solution.
"I think so...it should be (resolved peacefully) and when I asked the hostages, they
say that they were not badly treated," said the prime minister who met the six
released hostages here last night.
"It is not like the case (involving the Al-Ma'unah group) in Perak...they were not
tortured or anything like that, except they had some diarrhoea because of the food they
took," he told a news conference here before leaving for Kuala Lumpur at the end of
his three-day visit to Sabah.
Dr Mahathir said although the release of the remaining 14 Sipadan hostages, including
three Malaysians might take time, it was better to be a bit patient rather than to rush
things and cause a lot of problems.
"We have to handle this gently. We don't want to upset people, we don't want to hurt
our own people and for that matter, all the other hostages," he said.
Asked whether he was frustrated with the time taken to resolve the problem, he said:
"I am, in a way, but what can I do about it? We have done our best, we have tried to
contact them but still we should be grateful because quite a number of our people have
been released."
Of the 21 people taken hostage by an armed group in Sipadan on April 23, six Malaysians
and a German woman, Renate Wallert, 56, have been released.
The Malaysians are Sabah Wildlife Department rangers Zulkarnain Hashim, 29, Francis
Masangkim, 34, and another staff of the department Baln Krishnan Nair, 34, policeman Abdul
Jawah Salawat, 39, dive master Vincent Kwong, 40, and assistant cook Lee Hock Leong, 20.
Last night, Dr Mahathir and his wife, Datin Seri Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamed Ali, met the six
freed hostages and their families as well as families of three other Malaysians still
being held in a jungle hideout on Jolo island.
The remaining Malaysian hostages are dive master Fong Yin Ken, 28, Sabah Wildlife
Department ranger Basilius Jim, 28, and cook Kua Yu Loong, 21, while the foreigners
comprise two Germans, two South Africans, two Finns, two Filipinos, two French nationals
and a Lebanese.
Asked on measures to prevent a recurrence of the Sipadan incident, Dr Mahathir said:
"We have set up our security activities and put more people.
We will do everything possible but sometimes things happen no matter how vigilant we
are."
Back to Sipadan Hostages News
Back
to This Week's Borneo News |
