DPM: Shoot order will not draw criticism
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 (Bernama)
-- Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the government is convinced
that its shoot-on-sight order against intruders in Sabah waters to check recurrence of
Pandanan and Sipadan-like abductions by foreign gunmen will not draw criticism.
It was incumbent on the country's security forces to act promptly in intercepting such
intruders to avoid undesirable consequences, said Abdullah, who is also Home Minister.
The shoot-on-sight order should serve as a warning that intruders are not welcomed, he
said to reporters when approached on Defence Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's
statement on the order.
Earlier, Abdullah opened a regional seminar on mystic cults here.
Najib reportedly said the order was followed last Wednesday's Cabinet decision
categorising abductions by foreigners on islands in Sabah waters as a violation of the
country's territorial sovereignty.
The latest abduction last Sunday saw three Malaysians taken hostage by four gunmen who are
holding them in Jolo Island in southern Philippines.
Asked why Malaysia did not issue such order in the wake of 21 people being abducted from
Sipadan Island last April 23, Abdullah said: "If we resort to that right from the
beginning, some will say we're over-reacting."
Abdulah said the first hostage-taking incident was hardly over when a second abduction
followed and a third one and so forth could take place if the government did not act to
put a stop.
Asked whether Malaysia would risk being criticised by shooting intruders on sight, he
said: "If we don't shoot criminals and intruders armed with M-16s, do you expect us
to welcome them.
"We'll shoot those armed people intruding into our territorial waters and out to
create undesirable acts," he said.
Abdullah said he had discussed the Cabinet's latest decision on the shoot-on-sight order
with Najib and the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai.
A greater and combined police-military approach was necessary to provide stricter control
over national waters, he added.
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