By Michael Lee

SEMPORNA: The abduction of the three Malaysians from Pulau Pandanan on Sept. 10 currently being held captive by Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo island, southern Philippines, was carried out by "local fishermen" operating in the area but who were armed with automatic weapons.

This shocking disclosure was related by a Pandanan-based boatman – who happened to recognise the fishermen – tot he father of one of the kidnap victims, Kan Vui Chung, 31, several days after the incident.

The boatman told me he recognised four to five intruders landing on the island to be fishermen and hence did not suspect anything until he saw them holding automatic weapons," said former driver tutor Kan Yin Siong, 56.

"He (boatman) said he shouted to the three men, including my son, lari lari (run and hide) as the men were walking on the jetty and approaching the resort.

"However, the fishermen were already within reach of the three and fired two shots in the air as a warning not to flee," said Yin Siong.

On why he did not disclose this vital information earlier, he said:

"That’s because it (information) was passed on to me by the boatman, who is a frequent visitor to Pandanan, several days after the incident when he happened to be in Semporna.

"The boatman happens to be a friend and felt I should know this.

"Besides, except for some of the resort workers and the Semporna Fook Siew Association, nobody come to my house to even find out how we are coping," he said.

He said, according to the baotman, Vui Chung, resort manager Mohamad Noh Sulaiman, 43, and dive master Joseph Ongkinoh, 40, were siting together outside the restaurant at a table closet to the shore, at about 7pm then.

The boatman’s observation matched a recent news report in a Zamboanga newspaper that was picked by the monitoring team sent there by PBRS Deputy President Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.

The report in the Philippine Inquirer had quoted an Abu Sayyaf leader, Abu Sabaya, as claiming that the kidnapping was done by "Malaysians who sold off the hostages who sold off the hostages to the rebel group".

Kan described the disclosure as shocking, especially if it was true that Malaysians would kidnap and sell off their fellow countrymen to foreign rebels for a fast buck.

The absence of his eldest son (Vui Chong) has not only incurred unnecessary anguish on the family but also made them devoid of financial support considering that he was their sole breadwinner.

Vui Chong was a foreman with a construction firm on Pulau Mataking prior to the incident.

They were kidnapped barely a month following the release of nine fellow Malaysians by the same group. The earlier hostages, along with 12 foreign tourists, were plucked off Pulau Sipadan on April 23, this year.

The elder Kan said his son would return home from Pulau Mataking on the 16^th of every month to give the family "a few hundred ringgit" of his salary.

Since Vui Chong’s disappearance, Kan said no money had also been forthcoming from the construction firm despite an assurance by the top man, known only as "Mr Lim", that the company would continue to pay his son’s salary, during a meeting two days after the kidnapping.

The "Mr Lim", according to him, has also assured that the money would be paid out to the family on the 16^th of every month until Vui Chong’s release.

He regretted that wide publicity, coupled with generous public donations, had been rendered to the families of other hostages, while his family had been entirely forgotten, even by the Chinese-based political parties.

Kan is currently jobless, forced to leave his job as a driver eight years ago due to blood pressure. His wife left the family 10 years ago and is believed to be in Peninsular Malaysia.

He is also forced to look after his 22-year-old daughter and a son aged 18, both of whom are unemployed. Both were intellectually disabled.

Kan said Vui Chong was their only hope for sustenance, as the eldest son is currently working in Penang "and living his own life there".

According to him, Vui Chong was forced to work after completing Form Three to to support the family. "There was no other alternatives." He said Vui Chong began working as a foreman with a contractor undertaking a project on Pulau Mataking, five months before the incident.

Since the son’s disappearance, Kan said the family had to fend for themselves, including seeking the generosity of friends and relatives.

"Of course, the contributions are limited and this cannot go on forever," he said.

Soon after Vui Chong was abducted, a kind relative in Tawau give him RM100 which he used to add to the total cost of RM400 for the purchase of a 14-inch televisions et.

"With the television set, I thought we could follow the latest developments in Jolo," said Kan, who lives at Kampung Perigi, here.