SEPT 14 — In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister Najib Razak bestowed 2 August the Pingat Kedaulatan Negara on 227 local journalists who covered the Lahad Datu standoff in February. The specially minted badge of honour was also earlier awarded to 8,000 security personnel who served or were directly involved in fighting the armed intruders from Sulu.
Lee Long Hui, 27, one of the three from Malaysiakini received the award for a job well done expressed his gratitude for it but said there were still numerous questions left unanswered.
Some foreign journalists who covered the standoff complained about unfair treatment. Filipino journalist, Jamela Alindogan together with two other journalists from the Al Jazeera news team who tried to travel to Lahad Datu in a small boat was arrested by marine police.
“They kept telling me that I was part of the Royal Sulu Army,” she said.
“Just because I am a Filipino?”
Manila-based Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility, Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance, and Malaysia’s Centre for Independent Journalism, said the length of detention of the three journalists was unnecessarily long and the line of questioning on Alindogan was unwarranted.
Sabah Police Commissioner Hamza Taib was quoted as saying the three Al Jazeera journalists were detained for trying to enter a security area and it was for their own safety.
But information chief, Chong Pit Fah, of Sabah’s opposition SAPP party disagreed and was quoted as saying the Government should allow foreign journalists and international news agencies to enter the area and cover the incident.
“International and neutral coverage would enable the people to get the true picture of what was really happening. All this while we are fed government controlled media reports which might not be fully accurate,” he said.
Media from different countries flocked to Sabah after a group of some 200 armed Filipino men, sent by the Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, landed in Lahad Datu on 9 February to re-establish their centuries old claim of Sabah as part of the Sulu Sultanate. Calling themselves the Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, they set up camp, with no intention of leaving their “home.”
Malaysian security forces tagged them as “terrorists,” and an aggressive manhunt accompanied by firepower from Malaysia’s fighter jets ensued. There were fatalities on both sides, making this the biggest peacetime casualty suffered by Malaysia’s security forces. Both the Philippines and Malaysian governments denounced the Sultan’s actions in the midst of the standoff.
Vergel Santos of the Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility in the Philippines, said, “Malaysian and Filipino (media) alike apparently had been denied first-hand coverage of the conflict.”
Santos observed, however, that measures could have been taken to verify government-provided information, despite the clampdown but he did not say how. “In fact, the Malaysians were fed official information and did not appear bothered by the arrangement — indeed, they may have found it their patriotic duty to go along. The Filipinos, on the other hand, could only produce mostly second-hand and peripheral accounts.”
In his report, Nigel Aw of Malaysiakini highlighted the difficulty at verifying details of the conflict. For instance, in one incident it could not be verified whether the engagement involved the Sultan’s men or drug dealers in the area.
Philip Golingai, a senior Malaysian journalist from The Star, in an interview said there was no censorship imposed by the security forces. Neither were foreign journalists banned.
“Our security guys have little experience in handling media in a conflict zone and each day we faced a different situation at the media centre, “ he said.
Gayathry Venkiteswaran, executive director of South East Asia Press Alliance said journalists on both sides were challenged to get information as they did not have access to some of the areas.
“We had to rely on the press daily conferences by the police and army, two in the morning and one more later in the day,” said Sin Chew Daily executive editor, Tai Siew Kim.
Even that, some of the official information may inaccurate. For example, on 25 April the New Straits Times front-page lead claimed (Defence Minister) “Ahmad Zahid confirms 35 armed intruders shot dead by Philippine Navy.”
The report was picked up and posted on GMA News Online in the Philippines. Media on both sides did not verify the information. The Philippine Navy subsequently denied the report.
Some fringe media in the Philippines were also too quick to speculate without verification and relying on unnamed sources. For instance in Globabalita. Globabalita.com, Val G. Abelgas wrote, “The same sources said foreign journalists were not allowed to get near Lahad Datu and that Malaysian newspapers have been told to report only news favourable to the Malaysian government.
“Rallies are being held in front of the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur almost daily since the standoff and Malaysian policemen are beginning to ‘secure’ known Filipino hangouts and to check on the papers of Tausug-looking Filipinos,” she wrote.
Across the Sulu Sea, Roy Goh writing in the New Straits Times said some media in the Philippines are bent on twisting facts over the conflict and outlandish stories are coming out in the Philippines about what’s happening here.
“Allegations of security forces torturing villagers, neglecting evacuees, pointing their guns at journalists at checkpoints and banning them from entering a media centre at Felda Sahabat are just some that have surfaced, “ he said.
“These allegations are so far from the truth, however, that even Filipino journalists covering Ops Daulat (standoff) here are shaking their heads in disbelief at what has been written.”
There was a heart-warming moment though but it was relegated to inside pages in Malaysian papers. On 8 March, Malaysians held an assembly outside the Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
The event, called Ops Bunga (Operation Flower), encouraged participants to place flowers at the embassy’s doorstep as a show of the Malaysian public’s solidarity towards Filipinos in Malaysia. Organizers also urged people to offer prayers to the Malaysian security officers who died in the conflict. Participants used the Twitter hashtag #OpsBunga during the event.
Telling the story of the Lahad Datu standoff is an unfinished task. Lee Long Hui of Malaysiakini wants the government to reveal the findings of its investigation into the matter.
But to Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar there are some more untold stories that cannot be disclosed publicly yet.
“We are waiting for the right time to reveal them …,” he said. . — www.mysinchew.com
* Chiara Zambrano is a Philippine TV journalist.
* * This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.
