Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Malaysia has yet to endorse ICC
Monday, February 9, 2009
whose money and linked to Sabah???
Meiring told David Hawthorn, an American, he d found a fabulous treasure in US Federal Reserve notes and, in 1992, sold a box full of them worth $500 million plus. That loot was said to be part of an old war chest for American and Filipino guerillas fighting the Japanese.
The MNLF, MILF, and Abu Sayyaf have recently sold similar US bonds and notes to finance their arms purchases. Local authorities have made several arrests.
devastation... but
http://www.defendsison.be/pages_php/0303090.php American blast victim in Davao tagged as terrorist Jun Bersamin, Radio dzMM September 27, 2002 DAVAO CITY - The City Prosecution Office on Friday tagged the American victim of an explosion in his hotel room four months ago as a terrorist. City Prosecutor Raul Bendico said findings from the investigation of the case indicated that Meiring apparently attempted to set up explosives intended to blow up Evergreen Hotel when the accidental explosion went off, mangling his lower limbs. Michael Meiring, 65, of California, was rushed to Davao Medical Mission Hospital on May 16 after the blast inside his room at the hotel located on Ramon Magsaysay Avenue here. Meiring was charged with illegal possession of explosives and reckless imprudence “for failing to practice proper attention and diligence regarding the handling of explosive materials”. But he was reportedly whisked away by agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and brought to the United States. Authorities want Meiring brought back to the country to face the criminal charges filed against him. THE WHITE HOUSE RESCUES A TERRORIST What is unusual about the case, The Manila Times reported, is that Meiring was: whisked out of Davao, past the Philippine National Police guarding him at the hospital, and on to a chartered plane, accompanied by what Immigration officials described as agents of the US National Security Agency and agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. The National Security Agency intervention, confirmed by Immigration Deputy Commissioner Daniel Queto, sparked intense local speculation as to why an agency that reports directly to the Office of the President of the United States would send an entourage of bodyguards to speed Meiring to a hospital in Manila. Security tightened around the wounded man immediately. Press were told that only his doctor handpicked by the US Embassy had access, and Meiring was promptly airlifted to San Diego, home to a US naval base. The American Embassy has refused comment. Vice-consul Michael Newbill settled the hospital bills in Davao City. The Manila Times quoted a friend of Meiring who said he was: told by a Filipino in Davao, carrying a message from the US Embassy that Michael would never be charged with a crime in connection with the explosion. The investigation will end up as a stonewall. Michael will be protected and...the incident will be shortly forgotten, if you re willing to forget it. Officials in Davao City will not forget. The suspicious blast took place during a wave of terror bombings across Mindanao as US and Philippine troops conducted anti-terror exercises. President Arroyo threatened to declare a state of emergency and demanded that lawmakers rush through her tough new anti-terror bill. Rush it through they did. Now Prosecutor Bendico says the US-shielded terrorist was trying to blow the hotel up. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Philippine Star explained why his findings are worrisome: CIA whisks away Brit-Am blast victim; now in US. Edith Regalado July 9, 2002. DAVAO CITY - The efforts of government prosecutors here to go after a British-American national who was the victim of a hotel blast on May 16 could very well prove futile as the US Central Intelligence Agency has already taken him in custody in California. Highly reliable sources told The STAR Michael Terrence Meiring, 65, reportedly was deployed by the CIA, sometime in the early up to the mid 90s, on assignment here in Southern Mindanao... “He overshot his mandate. That was why the Americans had to find a way that he could be spirited out of the country fast because the CIA has to also take hold of him,” the same source said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHO IS MICHAEL MEIRING? Here is the confusing background of the American terror bomber handled by the National Security Agency of the Bush White House, compiled by Dorian Zumel-Sicat and Jeannette Andrade for a three-part Manila Times investigation that ran May 29-31, 2002. Meiring was born in 1932 in South Africa and later became a naturalized US citizen. His wife Angela is a nurse at a 7th Day Adventist hospital in Loma Linda, California. He has been described as a surgeon, a con-man, a student of medicinal herbs, a treasure hunter and, most recently, a terror bomber. Charred US federal bank notes were found in his exploded hotel room, with a three-week old fax from Derek S. Fawell, of 3 Glenhurst Avenue, Yorkshire, England that read: With regard to your ordnance disposal problem, I have talked with our experts. They will be at your location upon the time frame that you instruct. The device that you have described is highly volatile and must be dealt with quite delicately. Meiring s company letterhead, PAROUSIA International Trading, Inc., also lists a UK address: Patchole Manor, Kentisbury Ford, North Devon, England. Under the address are the words: When in residence. The address of record for Meiring in his passport and with US authorities is 381 Smokeridge Trail, Calimesa, California. He first came to the Philippines in 1992, where he spent almost a year in Metro Manila and North Luzon in the company of agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and under the protection of Ricardo Diaz, the NBI Chief of Interpol. In and out of Davao City for the past 10 years, Meiring had close ties to well-placed government authorities in southern Mindanao, national government officials and Philippine National Police officials like Colonel Segundo Duran. Others in the circle: former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief Hashim Salamat and suspected New People s Army (NPA) leader Father Navarro. Meiring also has close ties with shady people like MNLF Commander Tony Nasa and others in Cotabato who acted as front men for his dealings with the Abu Sayyaf. He spent millions of dollars while in the Philippines, the source of his funds unknown. According to The Manila Times, his trail leads back to...boxes supposedly containing US Federal Reserve notes and bonds obtained from the Abu Sayyaf. Meiring told David Hawthorn, an American, he d found a fabulous treasure in US Federal Reserve notes and, in 1992, sold a box full of them worth $500 million plus. That loot was said to be part of an old war chest for American and Filipino guerillas fighting the Japanese. The MNLF, MILF, and Abu Sayyaf have recently sold similar US bonds and notes to finance their arms purchases. Local authorities have made several arrests. Meiring fronted for a very wealthy, powerful group in Manila. He and his American and Filipino associates were known to use explosives throughout the south for treasure salvage and to supply other treasure hunters with explosives. Philippine intelligence officers refused to let The Manila Times publish the names of current treasure hunters in Mindanao because they are all being monitored for links to the MNLF, MILF, Abu Sayyaf, and other radical Islamic fundamentalists. Older names in the game cleared for release are almost as exotic as Michael Meiring. Many have been linked to undergound Muslim independence campaigns in Mindanao. In 1990-91, Bob Gould from Hayward, California, Filipino-American Frederick Obado and others in Davao City made plans to invade Sabah, Malaysia. A close friend of Gould from Fremont, California, Nina North maintained contact with Obado from 1990-92. The Manila Times reports that North was linked to the CIA, involved with back door transfers of gold bullion from the Philippines and regularly dealt with representatives of Osama Bin Laden and high officials in the Mid-East. So, to answer the question directly: Michael Terrence Meiring is a Manila-controlled CIA-connected White House-protected explosives expert who spent the last ten years in the southern Philippines hanging out with Filipino intelligence and police brass, Muslim rebels and other shady people . He equipped many of his acquaintances throughout Mindanao with explosives, spent large sums of mystery cash and traded in US Federal Reserve notes with the Abu Sayyaf Group - terrorists who regularly use the notes to buy weapons....a gang that provided the excuse for the new US-Philippine military alliance. Meiring is an American with a base in England and explosive expert colleagues in England who were contracted to assist him with his ordnance endeavors at the time he blew his legs off while making a bomb in his hotel room during the region-wide terror bombing spree that traumatized Mindanao five months ago. A boo-boo that earned a chop-chop hush-hush Uncle Sam medevac to San Diego.... for the rebel-friendly man Prosecutor Bendico classified as a terrorist two weeks ago. NOTES FROM THE US TERROR UNDERGROUND The Meiring episode is the best substantiated of several wild reports this year that have Filipinos convinced there s a stealth invasion of their country underway. Consistent themes include the involvement of Meiring s favorite Muslim rebel armies the MNLF, MILF and Abu Sayyaf - and the invasion of Sabah, Malaysia. On February 21, Rosanna Halong, wife of notorious Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya, phoned Radyo Agong dxMD in Koronodel City and announced that her husband was in on a CIA plot to break Sabah away from Malaysia and fuse it with Mindanao to form an independent country - a plot long popular with CIA-linked treasure hunters like Gould and North. Halong insisted her husband hatched his version with Jeffrey Schilling. Sabaya took Schilling captive for eight months in the jungle after he suspected the Berkeley grad was a CIA agent. Schilling swore the mix-up was the fault of his friendship with another Zamboanga-based African-American named Shaun, a former Marine the rebels had met earlier. Perhaps he was also a CIA agent, Schilling said matter-of-factly, and due to my association with him they assumed I was also a CIA agent. Stories like the following explain why locals assume that every Yankee is a spook in a country where Philippine Senator Aquilino Pimentel describes the Abu Sayyaf as a CIA monster. A group, he points out, whose original members were organized, funded and trained by Ronald Reagan s secret agents in the 1980s and sent to Afghanistan to help kick out the Russians. Twenty years ago, that skullduggery was overseen by exactly the kind of people Michael Meiring hung out with, in exactly the same part of the country. Four days before Sabaya s wife said her man was an American puppet, the Daily Zamboanga Times reported on a new and improved super-power puppet army in Mindanao. The term Bangsamoro as used below means Filipino Muslim people : -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Rebel Group Wants North Borneo Bangsamoro News Agency February 17, 2002 A new emerging powerful revolutionary group in Mindanao yesterday revealed that the Bangsamoro people of Mindanao have now decided to include in their objective the liberation of North Borneo, which they claim as part of their traditional homeland... The leaders of the group, who refused to be identified for the meantime so as not to preempt their formal declaration of liberation of Mindanao and North Borneo in due time, told the Bangsamoro News Agency that their organization was organized in November last year, has now more than 50,000 strong armed forces in Mindanao and another 50,000 in North Borneo with highly sophisticated firepowers, including anti-tank, anti-aircraft surface-to-air missile (SAM). Their forces, they said, is fast growing in number. The group claimed they are receiving financial and logistic support from super-power countries, which they refused to identify. But apparently one of these countries is the United States of America (USA). The group is also highly confident that the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)* of Chairman Nur Misuari and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)* of Chairman Salamat Hashim and other armed groups in Mindanao fighting against the Philippine government, as well as the people of Sabah and North Borneo....will support their aspiration. The group is also confident that the development-oriented Christian** settlers in Mindanao will support the independence as one country of Mindanao and North Borneo, The same group also called on the peace-loving and democracy loving people of Malaysia to reject the arrogant, dictator and greedy leadership of Mahathir Mohammed if they don t want the wrath of the mighty American power , and instead, install a true pro-people, God-fearing and democratic leader. The group proposed the formation of the United States of Mindanao and North Borneo . One month later, the Indigenous People s Federal Army (IFPA) went public, calling on the Arroyo government to amend the national constitution. A spokesman for the heavily armed defense forces warned of a social volcano unless Arroyo set up separate federal governments for the indigenous people, Muslims* and Christians**. Weeks before Michael Meiring blew his legs off while preparing to blow up the Evergreen Hotel, IFPA leader Roger Adamat was identified as the man behind the bomb scares in Manila and Cotabato intended to dramatize the group s bid for a federal state. The IFPA circulated cell-phone text messages throughout General Santos City that 18 bombs were primed. At 3:15 pm on April 21, a powerful explosion outside the FitMart shopping mall killed 15 people, including four children, tricycle cab drivers, street vendors and a passerby. And Ms. Arroyo demanded and got her tough anti-terror bill. Michael Meiring s controversial NSA-sponsored “flight ”three weeks later and his new status as a wanted terrorist is of great interest in the wake of the recent mystery bombing that just cost a Green Beret his life, and which has been attributed to the Abu Sayyaf. This bombing comes as Ms. Arroyo prepares to sign a Mutual Logistics and Support Agreement with the Bush Administration that will give the Pentagon wide-open access to the Philippines. Securing such access was a major objective before September 11, 2001 WASHINGTON, MANILA, TAIPEI & BEIJING The future of the American-Filipino anti-terror alliance became clear last month when Arroyo took up the issue of granting landing rights to Taiwanese military pilots. That move is a US orchestration to formalize a Washington-Manila-Taipei triad in the South China Sea and coincides with the offensive return of the USNS Bowditch. The same American spy ship that sparked last year s deadly mid-air collision of military planes over Hainan Island was back looking for trouble last month in coastal waters off the People s Republic. The Chinese insist the new intrusions of the Bowditch violate international law. The US Navy says PRC patrol planes harass the crew as they gather data for battle. Six months after the director of the CIA warned Congress about the 400 missiles Beijing now brackets the Straits with, Congress sent its new Foreign Relations Authorization Act to President Bush. Newly signed into law, the bill upgrades Taiwan to major non-NATO ally status and orders US flags to fly at American buildings on the island Beijing calls a renegade. The US has been heading towards China via the Philippines ever since Mr. Bush took office. Months before September 11, The Role of Southeast Asia in US Strategy toward China, a Rand Corporation study, advised Donald Rumsfeld that he must re-base American forces in the Philippines in order to retain US military dominance in Asia. A Rand board member since 1977, Rumsfeld joins Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz as leaders of a militaristic Blue Team that sees China as a competitor which must be contained and kept afraid as part of the hedging strategy recommended in the Rand study. Wolfowitz, an old Indonesia hand, has been particularly outspoken in regards to the Fujian missile bases. The Rand study helped give birth to the new National Security Strategy of the United States, which justifies pre-emptive strikes to enforce American global economic supremacy and specifically cites the PRC as a top-of-mind target. AND LONDON? Meiring s British connections and the Bangsamoro claim to multiple super power sponsors for the rebel army in Mindanao and Sabah raise a very interesting question. At this stage of the game it is impossible to tell if the robust Anglo-American military alliance is active in Asia. But Philippine Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes has been briefed in London repeatedly and Prince Andrew was recently in Manila promoting stronger naval ties and weapon sales to assist Arroyo with her maritime challenges . The Arroyo government has already authorized anti-terror partnerships between her national police forces and Scotland Yard, the Special Boat Service (SBS) and other British commando. And Tony Blair is sold on a global crusade he perceives as altruistic. For all the fine reasons spun out by neo-imperialist guru Robert Cooper. GAMING THE ZONE: WILD MEN IN BORNEO? An alliance willing to defy the UN and to use first-strike nukes as it sees fit will not hesitate to fudge a little chaos in order to secure long-term power projection bases in Asia. The United States has fudged chaos in the Philippines before. The first President Bush saluted America s first covert Filipino-Muslim freedom fighters, and his son s inner circle has its own reasons to resurrect the secret Muslim army trick. As soon as Arroyo signs the Pentagon s proposed mutual support agreement, any unrest in Sabah, Zamboanga City or Mindanao means the US must intervene. The Rand study advised the Pentagon to keep the zone warm militarily. That is the purpose of the current rolling series of anti-terror exercises against the CIA s Abu Sayyaf Group. That was also the likely purpose of the terror-bomber rescued by the Bush White House. Future events will reveal America s game plan for Southeast Asia and who the confederates are. Last month, after a series of disturbances in Sabah work camps, Malaysia expelled an estimated 30,000 undocumented Filipino laborers from the troubled state in North Borneo that so many CIA plots seem to target...a state where the Bangsamoro army claimed in February to have 50,000 insurgents armed and funded by the USA and other super-powers. To protest the expulsion, Arroyo immediately moved to renew the Philippine claim to Sabah. The President has ordered her chief Army officer to prepare for all emergencies and to develop the new rules of engagement we need . To guarantee the safety of returning workers, she has proposed the permanent stationing of a Philippine navy ship off the Sabah coast. On October 6, she called for even closer security ties with the United States. Primary research Zamboanga City, Manila, S. Leyte. global@devil.com www.messagecycle.com
project Mahathir
Bold text==References==
^ "SPECIAL REPORT: Sabah's Project M" (fee required). Malaysiakini. 27 June 2006. http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/53046. Retrieved on 23 April 2008.
^ "Proof is everywhere, Salleh told". Daily Express. 19 December 2006. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=46245. Retrieved on 23 April 2008.
^ Mutalib M.D. "IC Projek Agenda Tersembunyi Mahathir?" (2006)
^ a b c d e f Sadiq, Kamal (2005). "When States Prefer Non-Citizens Over Citizens: Conflict Over Illegal Immigration into Malaysia" (PDF). International Studies Quarterly 49: 101-122. http://www.cri.uci.edu/pdf/ISQ2005FinalCopy.pdf. Retrieved on 23 April 2008.
^ a b "Monthly Statistical Bulletin, January 2007: Sabah", Department of Statistics Malaysia, ISSN 18231659
^ "2004 seats formula: CM". Daily Express. 14 February 2008. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=55835. Retrieved on 28 April 2008.
^ a b c d "Phantoms on the Roll in Sabah: Judgment by Justice Datuk Hj Muhammad Kamil bin Awang on Election Petition No K11 of 1999". Aliran Monthly. http://www.aliran.com/oldsite/monthly/2001/6f.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
^ a b "'Express reports true'". Daily Express (Sabah). 20 January 2007. http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=46882. Retrieved on 23 April 2008.
^ "Harris, Megat Junid implicated In ‘Project IC’". Borneo Post. http://www.pbs-sabah.org/pbs3/html/news/2007/230107borneopost.html. Retrieved on 28 April 2008.
^ a b "Stuff Hollywood movie scripts are made of (part 1)". Malaysia Today. March 4, 2007. http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/corridors.php?itemid=2866. Retrieved on 2008-06-04.
^ "Dompok and Nazri disagree over function of integrity panel". The Star. 18 May 2007. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/5/18/nation/17762585&sec=nation. Retrieved on 1 August 2008.
^ "Bernard quits parliamentary integrity panel". The Sun. 16 May 2007. http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/legal/general_news/bernard_quits_parliamentary_integrity_panel.html. Retrieved on 1 August 2008.
^ "Kiandee stops Kit Siang’s bid". The Star. 23 May 2008. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/23/parliament/21341078&sec=parliament. Retrieved on 4 June 2008.
^ "Sabah MPs prefer select committee". The Star. 24 May 2008. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/24/nation/21353344&sec=nation. Retrieved on 4 June 2008.
^ "Project IC: PM's cabinet committee not new, says PBS leader" (fee required). Malaysiakini.com. 2 June 2008. http://www1.malaysiakini.com/news/83785. Retrieved on 4 June 2008.
^ "“Goodies” a lip service to pacify people: CASH". New Sabah Times. 3 June 2008. http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/18161. Retrieved on 4 June 2008.
^ "Crackdown on illegal immigrants in Sabah to start in August". The Star. 17 July 2008. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/7/17/nation/20080717180021&sec=nation. Retrieved on 1 August 2008.
whose money?
Stuff Hollywood movie scripts are made of (part 1)
Category: General Posted by: Raja Petra
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
04/03 22:21:46
borneopeteliew wrote:
I know for a fact that Yong Teck Lee took US5 million to Mindano to pay the Abu
Sayyak group to get the release of the Sipadan hostages in 2000. When the plane
Yong Teck Lee traveled landed in Mindano, the baggage with the money was gone.
Yong Teck Lee then had to organise another US5 million from KK and this was
NEVER reported in any papers.
Part 1 of the articles on treasons
Stuff Hollywood movie scripts are made of (part 1)
Category: General Posted by: Raja Petra
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
On Monday, 26 February 2007, the Parliament Select Committee heard the
testimonies of various people who had once been detained under Malaysia's
draconian and dreaded Internal Security Act (ISA). These people, who used to
walk in the corridors of power, were detained under the ISA because they once
worked for the government and their government job was to 'import' an estimated
one million Muslims from the countries neighbouring Sabah and issue them with
Malaysian identity cards so as to flood the state with Muslim voters. The
specific purpose of this clandestine operation was to dilute the Christian
voters in Sabah so that Umno could topple the Christian-dominated PBS government
of Pairin Kitingan.
The testimonies of these ex-ISA detainees was of course not made public but
Malaysia Today found out that their testimonies revealed a partnership that was
established between Umno and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) of the Philippines. But
the partnership went terribly wrong when the Umno nominees who were entrusted
with the job of paying off Umno's Abu Sayyaf partners never delivered the money.
To 'encourage' the very recalcitrant Umno to pay its extremely long outstanding
debt, the Abu Sayyaf Group raided Sipadan and Pandanan islands off the coast of
Sabah in 2000 and kidnapped 24 Malaysians and foreigners whom they held for
ransom as 'security' for the debt.
Subsequently, Umno had no choice but to pay the money it owed the Abu Sayyaf
Group to secure the release of the hostages. But that is not all. The Malaysian
government denied it had paid the Abu Sayyaf Group any money to secure the
release of the hostages. This was true of course because the money came from
Libya, not from Malaysia. However, while Libya paid USD100 million, only USD23
million reached the Abu Sayyaf Group. What happened to the balance of USD77
million? Only one man, Aziz Shamsuddin, can reveal what happened to that money.
In fact, earlier, Libya had given Umno USD38 million to pay the Abu Sayyaf Group
their fees to bring in the one million new voters into Sabah -- who were
subsequently all issued with Malaysian identity cards and which eventually
resulted in the defeat of PBS in March 1994 and the emergence of Umno
thereafter. But this money too disappeared and Abu Sayyaf never received what
they had been promised. So that makes roughly USD115 million in total that has
disappeared.
Malaysia Today will trace the events and probe into what happened in 2000 and
the role Umno played in securing the services of the Abu Sayyaf Group to kick
out the PBS Christian government from Sabah and eventually bring the state under
direct Umno control from Kuala Lumpur. And, with that, the federalisation of
Sabah was complete and never again would the state be able to exercise its
limited autonomy promised to the state when they opted to join the Federation of
Malaysia together with Sarawak and Singapore.
Sipadan hostage crisis: TIMELINE
• April 23, 2000 - ASG gunmen raid the Malaysian diving resort of Sipadan, off
Borneo, and flee across the sea border to their Jolo island stronghold with 10
Western tourists and 11 resort workers.
• May 27, 2000 - The kidnappers issue political demands including a separate
Muslim state, an inquiry into alleged human rights abuses in Sabah and the
restoration of fishing rights. They later demand a multimillion-dollar ransom to
be paid in cash.
• Sept. 10, 2000 - ASG raids Pandanan Island near Sipadan and seizes three
Malaysians.
• Oct 25, 2000 - Troops rescue the three Malaysians seized in Pandanan.
• June 10, 2001 - Libyan President Muammar Khadafi offers to help negotiate with
the Abu Sayyaf.
The Jolo Diary: A behind-the-scenes look at the hostage crisis raises disturbing
questions
Asiaweek, 29 September 2000
Time passes. S-l-o-w-l-y. The days grate and grind against each other. The 21
Sipadan hostages on Jolo are getting along as best they can. The many-headed
hydra that is Abu Sayyaf bickers fitfully. The European governments, not
trusting the Philippines to extract their nationals alive, have already turned
to Libya. They have begged its envoys to negotiate a way out. Libya, agreeing to
use its former ambassador to the Philippines, Abdul Rajab Azzarouq, has grabbed
the chance to collect international kudos. Manila resents the Europeans'
high-handedness -- applying a double standard in dealing with terrorists when it
suits them. President Joseph Estrada appoints his closest adviser, Robert
Aventajado, to look after Philippine interests. Aventajado is presidential
material writ large. He wants control of the crisis. Libya still thinks it can
deliver. Friction. Tension.
A complicating factor is hawks and doves in the Philippine cabinet who differ on
approach. The upshot: a tangled tale of competing forces and agendas, bags of
pesos that supposedly don't exist, phone taps, changing demands, delays,
confusion. Now, Philippine senators want answers. Why did it take 139 days to
free all but one of the Sipadan hostages? Who paid the ransom money, and where
did it go? In the past four months Contributing Reporter Kristina Luz has
pursued her own investigation into the protracted and troublesome negotiations
for the hostages, in the process tapping mediators and brokers on both
Philippine and foreign sides to piece together an account of what happened.
While answers still remain elusive, what follows is a behind-the-scenes chapter
in a story that may never be fully told. Luz's report follows:
One moment they were having a leisurely Easter Sunday dinner, the next there
were 25 men with bazookas and high-powered rifles. "There was all this
screaming," recalls South African tourist Monique Strydom. She and her South
African husband, nine Malaysians, two Filipinos, three Germans, two Finns, two
French and a French-Lebanese were herded into speedboats off the Malaysian
island of Sipadan and taken to Jolo island in the Philippines. Their lives were
now in the hands of two Muslim rebels-cum-bandits: Ghalib Andang, alias
Commander Robot, and ally Mujib Susukan.
The Philippine government, already waging war against an Abu Sayyaf faction on
nearby Basilan, sent a military force to Jolo. The hostages started ducking
bullets. Appalled, the German government sent its secret service to seek input
from Libya — a longtime peacemaker in the restive southern Philippines. French
and Finnish authorities backed the initiative. Azzarouq was dispatched to Manila
on behalf of the Gaddafi International Charitable Institution in Tripoli.
"Azzarouq did not hide his agenda," says a German official in Manila. "Libya was
willing to help and they were confident it would show the world that they
deserve to be recognized as a law-abiding nation." Adds a European diplomat:
"The level of confidence in the Philippine government to get the nationals out
safely was simply not there. The thought of Libya working on our behalf seemed a
better choice."
Azzarouq knew the ground and the people. He reckoned the crisis could be
resolved within a month. He met Robert Aventajado, who oversees economic
development in the south in his role as head of the president's flagship
projects. Aventajado also knew his way around. Together they saw Estrada. The
president wasn't interested in details. He wanted the negative publicity
contained and the crisis resolved. He agreed that Azzarouq should lead
negotiations and instructed Aventajado to be the government's chief envoy.
Azzarouq went ahead through Radulan Sujiron, an Abu Sayyaf leader on Jolo,
visiting Robot and Mujib at their hideout. "There was no talk of ransom money,"
says Azzarouq. "I told them that the Gaddafi foundation was willing to provide
livelihood projects and that the hostages must be released immediately. We asked
to see them."
The hostages were well but depressed. Azzarouq briefed Aventajado, who called
his own contacts on Jolo. "I needed to check on what [the Libyans] were saying
and doing," says Aventajado. "The integrity of the Philippines was at stake."
Malaysia, meanwhile, sent its ambassador to the Philippines, Arshad Hussein, to
the rebel hideout. "We realized that we could negotiate for our nationals
through our own channels," says Arshad. "I was willing to brief the Western
governments of the situation, but never had the chance." Lee Peng Wee, a
Chinese-Filipino businessman based in Zamboanga, was to be used as Malaysia's
conduit.
Through his contacts, Aventajado tried to meet directly with Robot and other Abu
Sayyaf leaders, but was told that Azzarouq had to be present. Realizing his
people had let him down, Aventajado called Robot by satellite phone and drew
from him contacts with whom Robot would be comfortable liaising. Robot named two
family members -- a retired army colonel, Ernest PacuNo, and Salim Jumaani.
Codenamed Dragon and Dragonito (Little Dragon), they became Aventajado's
personal emissaries. This worried the Europeans, who were never introduced to
the new conduits. Says a diplomat: "We couldn't understand why [Aventajado] was
trying to construct his own strategy instead of sitting down with the Libyans
and creating a cohesive strategy to move forward." Part of the answer may have
to do with the Philippine government understandably not wanting the negotiations
hijacked by foreigners. "Control everything," Aventajado said later when asked
what lessons he had learned.
Azzarouq reported that Robot wanted $2 million for the hostages as a group. "I
told him they were not worth that much," says Azzarouq. He started bargaining
the price down, not for a ransom, but for a development-aid offer. But the
Malaysians, intent on their own deal, complicated matters. Robot upped the ante,
seeking aid equivalent to $500,000 a head for the Westerners. Azzarouq informed
the Europeans and South Africans. Libya agreed to consider the price. Fifty days
had passed.
The Philippine government announced a three-week cooling-off period, giving
Robot space to move the hostages deeper into the jungle and away from other Abu
Sayyaf members. But that was interrupted when local press, citing senior
government officials, reported that Robot now wanted $1 million per hostage. It
was news to Azzarouq, he says. European sources claim Aventajado asked them to
provide $490,000 for each hostage, with the $510,000 balance to be made up by
Libya. "Robot and Azzarouq were negotiating a price for all the hostages and
Aventajado raised the price," alleges one foreign envoy. He claims the
Westerners started monitoring phone negotiations between Robot and Aventajado.
"We could hear every single conversation." In an interview on page 30,
Aventajado, when asked to comment about the alleged price hike, says he and his
government "never entertained such demands."
On day 61, Malaysian emissary Lee succeeded in exchanging P15 million (about
$330,000) for one Malaysian hostage, catching both Aventajado and Azzarouq by
surprise. Over the next two months Lee, with the financial assistance of
Sabah-based businessmen, managed to secure the release of all nine Malaysians.
Total cost: about $3 million. The Malaysian government denied providing any cash
directly. No money was made available for a Filipino slated to be released with
the final batch of Malaysians. He remains the only Sipadan hostage.
Aventajado now instructed that all demands and payments were to go through him,
diplomats say. Azzarouq advised the Westerners to acquiesce. "I think if it was
not given, our nationals would have remained on Jolo for another six months,"
observes one ambassador. Says a German envoy: "Without the help of the
government we had no chance -- and Aventajado was the government. This is what
Azzarouq told us." Explaining the move, Aventajado says: "Azzarouq kept telling
the ambassadors he had a deal with Robot when he did not. Robot told me this
personally."
The 85th day dawned with the release of the first Westerner, ailing German
Renate Wallert. The Europeans say neither they nor Libya agreed at the time to
pay a ransom for Wallert. In the Philippine and German press, it was reported
that $1 million was paid. Sources allege Aventajado raised $1 million through
local businessmen and sent Dragon to make the payment. They also allege
Aventajado asked Germany for a refund, but that officials refused. Aventajado
denies all of the above: "That is not true." But he does say: "I decided to move
with my emissaries because none of Azzarouq's contacts was making any progress.
[Wallert's release] was a favor from Robot to show that Dragon was the better
emissary than going through the Libyans, that he could deliver."
Soon the pace quickened. Azzarouq -- still the Europeans' preferred negotiator
-- visited the rebels for the first time in a month to pursue the release of
four Sipadan hostages and a French TV reporter, one of three French journalists
abducted. A plane arrived from Libya to fly out the hostages. Aventajado said
they would be freed within 48 hours. They weren't. Aventajado cited bad weather,
but admitted later the story was a "cover" and that the rebels were asking for a
better deal. Aventajado also announced that Estrada -- believed to be under
pressure from France -- now wanted all the hostages released together. Azzarouq
expressed his doubts, but agreed to try.
The various ambassadors awaiting the releases were increasingly annoyed by the
excuses. "The French journalists had gone in on their own, knowing full well
that the press was told to stay away," says a German envoy. "Why should the
Sipadan hostages suffer because of the insistence of the French to include their
journalists?" The sentiment of the German and South African diplomats was that,
said one, "we had become hostages of the French, Aventajado and the Abu Sayyaf."
Sources close to Aventajado say the Libyans then reluctantly transferred $6
million to a bank in the Philippines. The sources allege the money was changed
into pesos and taken to Jolo by a member of Aventajado's staff. (Aventajado says
he has no knowledge of any money.)
With Dragon now in tow, Azzarouq had a final meeting with Robot. Everyone
present agreed that six hostages would be freed the next day. Sources close to
Aventajado claim that Dragon secretly slipped about $200,000 in pesos to Robot
in exchange for a Filipino hostage from Sipadan. They say the deal was meant to
reinforce the idea that only Aventajado's men could deliver. Aventajado denies
that any money changed hands. Robot released the Filipino woman -- the only
hostage who spoke Robot's dialect. The next day, the other promised releases
fell through.
Aug. 19, day 118. The Libyan plane sent to fly out the hostages had been waiting
for five days. Aventajado, Azzarouq and the diplomats had been shuttling back
and forth between Manila, Zamboanga and Jolo. On Aventajado's instructions,
Dragonito went ahead to meet Robot on Jolo. He returned with a note stating that
Robot would release the hostages only through Aventajado's emissaries. Dragon
gave the note to Aventajado when he and Azzarouq arrived on Jolo two hours
later. Aventajado decided not to show the note to the Libyans "because I did not
want to embarrass them." When Azzarouq went to the hostage camp, he returned
empty-handed. Then Aventajado showed him the note. The Libyans expressed
disbelief. Back in Zamboanga, Aventajado showed the ambassadors the note.
Sources say it was written on the stationery of the Zamboanga hotel in which the
negotiating party was billeted. Aventajado told the doubting diplomats that his
emissaries carried a notepad in case Robot wanted to write something. "In the
beginning the ambassadors did not believe me," says Aventajado. "They believed
that Azzarouq had a deal with the rebels. They were shocked when I showed them
the note. That's when they realized I was the one who controlled the situation."
On day 126 the main characters returned to Jolo. This time Azzarouq agreed to
hang back and let Aventajado's go-betweens make the contact. Dragon drove a jeep
to pick up the hostages. Following him was a closed van with a driver and nine
bags, said by a diplomatic source to contain pesos worth $3 million. Five
hostages were released that day and a sixth the next.
In the days that followed, a military build-up on Jolo became obvious. Abu
Sayyaf members argued over the division of the spoils. In Manila on day 138,
Aventajado and Azzarouq were to leave for the release of the last four Western
hostages when word reached them that Mujib's brother had died in a motorcycle
accident. The pair remained in the capital. In Zamboanga that night, witnesses
at the hotel where Aventajado's emissaries were staying said they saw several
brown bags being moved into vans and driven to the air base.
Sept. 9, day 139. Dragon and Dragonito drove ahead to meet Robot and Mujib --
and, they hoped, the remaining Sipadan hostages. As they reached the rebels,
shots came from the jungle. Mujib returned fire and was slightly injured. Robot
screamed: "No, no. Stop, stop." He ordered the entire party to speed ahead to a
safe spot. Dragon called Aventajado to explain that they had been ambushed by
another rebel faction. He said they had to get the hostages out now or never --
and that the agreed route was probably blocked. Aventajado called the military
and organized a helicopter to be set down north of rebel territory.
Panicking, Robot took Dragon and Dragonito to fetch the hostages. At the last
moment, Robot wanted to retain Marc Wallert, Renate's son. The hostages waited
anxiously, but Mujib pressed Robot to follow the plan. They all fled north in a
jeep. When they reached the helicopter, the hostages and emissaries boarded
while Robot and Mujib vanished into the jungle.
Where do things go from here? On Sept. 11 opposition Senate members tabled a
resolution for an inquiry into the hostage negotiations. Senate Minority Leader
Teofisto Guingona Jr., from Mindanao, said that among other matters the inquiry
would look into whether anyone profited personally from the ransom payments.
"[People] are not entitled to a toll fee," he said. On Sept. 20 The Manila Times
reported anti-graft campaigner Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. -- also from Mindanao
-- as saying: "Reports about the split in ransom payments have been filtering
[in] during Senate discussions about the Sulu crisis." Pimentel said that the
Senate would summon Dragon and Dragonito. But that's another chapter.
WHO'S WHO
Some of the leading players in the drama:
Robert Aventajado: Philippine cabinet member who heads the Presidential
Committee on Flagship Programs and Projects, including economic development in
the Muslim-majority part of Mindanao. Leads Manila's hostage-negotiating team.
Abdul Rajab Azzarouq: Libyan ambassador to the Philippines for nine years until
1999, Azzarouq is a veteran of international peace efforts in Mindanao and has
successfully negotiated the release of Abu Sayyaf hostages in the past. After
the Sipadan kidnapping, Azzarouq went to the Philippines on behalf of the
Gaddafi International Charitable Institution in Tripoli, which sponsors
humanitarian projects worldwide. He is the preferred negotiator of the Western
governments involved.
Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot: Responsible for the Sipadan snatch, Robot
has been characterized as a bandit, largely uninterested in Muslim or political
ideology. He is a senior commander in Abu Sayyaf, but not a leader. His nom de
guerre was bestowed because it's said he can dance like Michael Jackson.
Mujib Susukan: Robot's cohort in the Sipadan kidnap and his strongest Abu Sayyaf
ally. Said to be a superior fighter to Robot.
Radulan Sujiron: One of Abu Sayyaf's four Sulu-based chiefs and political leader
of the group. Said to be holding the lone remaining Sipadan hostage, Filipino
Roland Ullah. Also believed to have orchestrated the kidnap of three Malaysians
from Pandanan island.
Ernest Pacuno: Aventajado's go-between, recommended by Robot, who is Pacuno's
nephew by marriage. A retired army colonel codenamed Dragon.
Samil Jumaani: Aventajado's second go-between, also recommended by Robot.
Jumaani's wife is a sister of one of Robot's four wives. Codenamed Dragonito
(Little Dragon).
Lee Peng Wee: Chinese-Filipino seaweed king based in Zamboanga, used by
Malaysians as their emissary. Said to have organized delivery of nearly $3
million to free the nine Malaysians taken from Sipadan island. Funded Estrada's
presidential campaign in parts of Mindanao.
To be continued
