Militants using Sabah as transit stop to Philippines

SABAH • As security threats posed by extremists grow in South-east Asia, Malaysia's Sabah state has emerged as a preferred route for Indonesian militants seeking to enter the Philippines to carry out their terrorist activities.

These militants are increasingly choosing to travel through Sabah because other routes, such as from Indonesia's Manado to Davao in the Philippines, are deemed less reliable, according to a regional intelligence source.

"The ferry service from Manado to Davao is off and on. But there is a daily ferry service from Makassar to Tarakan and then Nunukan in Kalimantan, and then to Tawau, on the east coast of Sabah," said the source, who asked not to be named.

From Tawau, the militants would then board other boats bound for Tawi Nunan or Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, he said.

Sabah appears to be a transit point for Indonesians who want to join terror groups or learn to make improvised explosive devices in the Philippines.

"(These radical fighters) will not conduct terror attacks in Sabah, the source said. "It is only a place to rest, look for money, smuggle arms and then move out."

Jakarta-based security and terrorism expert Stanislaus Riyanta said Sabah is a transit point for members of the Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an Indonesian radical organisation connected to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria militant group.

JAD's top brass - a man known as Saefullah who has strong ties with the Abu Sayyaf group on the Philippines' Jolo island - is linked to a 2019 suicide bombing at a Jolo cathedral that killed 23 people, as well as another attack at a church in Makassar, Indonesia, this year that left 20 injured.

The suicide attacks two years apart in two neighbouring countries were the tragic consequence of the rise of familial extremism, according to Mr Stanislaus.

"The attacks (are) an action mobilised by a group with strong family ties and that was organised by two cross-border groups, namely JAD in Indonesia and Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines," he said.

The Indonesian couple responsible for the Jolo bombings - Rullie Rian Zeke, 35, and his wife Ulfah Handayani Saleh, 32 - were JAD members from Makassar.

They joined the group because of Ulfah's brother Mohammad Rizaldy S., 46, who was a JAD leader, and they received orders - likely indirectly - from JAD top brass Saefullah, according to Mr Stanislaus.

In late 2018, Rullie, Ulfah and their three children journeyed from their hometown in Makassar to Jolo through Sabah to carry out the bombing. During that time, they lived in Keningau, Sabah, for about two months.

During their time in Sabah, Rullie and Ulfah married off their 17-year-old daughter to another JAD member, Andi, 21, in an arranged marriage.

The family of six then went on to Jolo in the Philippines, where they were hosted by the Abu Sayyaf through Andi's links to the group. The Abu Sayyaf later provided them with the suicide bomber vests and logistical support needed to carry out their mission.

Two years after the couple died in the Jolo cathedral attack, Indonesian security forces killed Mohammad Rizaldy in a raid in Makassar. As revenge, JAD top brass Saefullah directed another couple to carry out a suicide attack outside a church in Makassar this year.

"The Makassar JAD group is mostly united because of ideological ties and kinship ties," Mr Stanislaus said.

The regional intelligence source said that besides using Sabah as a convenient transit point, the JAD also maintains a base in the state to recruit new members.

Sabah is also a lucrative place for these people to make money to fund their terror activities before they head on to the Philippines, since there are few jobs available to them in poverty-stricken Jolo, the source said.

"In Sabah, they can do odd jobs on highway projects, oil palm plantations or vegetable farms," said the source, adding that they could earn between RM1,000 (S$323) and RM1,500 a month.

"They are in Sabah to raise funds. Once they have money and after the Covid-19 vaccination, they will travel to Jolo and back to Indonesia."

Former Sabah police commissioner Datuk Hazani Ghazali said Malaysia's police closely monitors foreign threats in the state.

"The three nations - Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines - exchange intelligence," he said.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK