KOTA KINABALU: Senior Assistant Commissioner (SAC) Zulkifli Abd Aziz told the High Court here yesterday that his purpose of holding a number of meetings with self-styled crown prince of the Sulu Sultanate, Datu Agbimuddin Kiram was to give ample time for the latter and his men to leave Sabah.
The meetings held between February 14 and 16 at Kampung Tanduo were also meant to obtain tactical intelligence for the Malaysian security forces, he said, during cross-examination by Ram Singh, counsel for special branch detective corporal Hassan Hj Ali Basari, who is on trial on a charge of withholding information relating to terrorism acts.
Hassan, 58, attached to the special branch in Lahad Datu, was charged with intentional omission to submit information relating to terrorism acts at the office of the special branch chief at Lahad Datu police station between January and March, 2013.
The charge under Section 130M of the Penal Code carries a maximum jail of seven years, or with a fine, or with both, upon conviction.
Zulkifli, 53, also told Justice Ravinthran Paramaguru that Datu Agbimuddin, the brother of self-styled Sulu sultan Datu Jamalul Kiram, was the head of the armed group who intruded into Sabah in an effort to exert their claim on the State.
He recalled that sometime in December last year, he had also met Datu Agbimuddin’s brother, Datu Esmail Kiram, in Lahad Datu and invited him for coffee.
To another question from Ram, the fourth prosecution witness replied that Esmail was friendly at that time and that he did talk about the Sabah claim.
“As a special branch officer, I do not know much about the issue of the Sulu claim over Sabah and from what I know is that the Sultanate of Sulu (Datu Jamalul Kiram and Esmail Kiram) is still claiming Sabah as their territory,” said Zulkifli, who was then the deputy chief of Sabah special branch 1.
When asked by Ram whether, during the time they were having their coffee, Esmail did still stress on the Sabah claim issue to him, he answered: “Esmail did not stress on the matter but he was more interested in getting in a business partner to develop his 4,000 acres of land in Mindanao, Philippines, to convert to an oil palm plantation.
“So, he asked me if I could introduce anyone who was interested, to which I answered that I would try to assist him”.
Zulkifli said further that the meeting was the last one with Esmail before the intrusion at Kampung Tanduo.
To another question from Ram, the witness replied that Esmail had entered Sabah legally.
“Then, during my meetings with Agbimuddin, I did tell him about my meeting with his elder brother, Esmail, and Agbimuddin just said “good”, that is all,” Zulkifli testified, adding that during the three meetings when he entered the area, he estimated that there were around 70–80 armed men, including five ladies, all clad in jungle fatigues and there were more in the bushes.
He disagreed with the suggestion from Ram that his three visits to Kampung Tandou was to negotiate with Agbimuddin on the intrusion.
“I disagree because on the February 14 when I first entered Kampung Tanduo, I was there to conduct a negotiation with Agbimuddin but once I realized that there were no hostages, there was no need for a negotiation. My role turned to facilitating and advising Agbimuddin to leave Sabah and to explain that they had committed a crime by bringing his armed men into Sabah.
In response to another suggestion by Ram that the discussion or advice had failed, Zulkifli went on and answered: “He did not want to listen, what to do”.
He also explained that during his visits, the so-called group at Kampung Tanduo was in a tensed mood and they were all in a ‘stand too’ position. None of them wanted to shake hands with us or to take photographs.
“So, I had to liven up the situation by going around and passing cigarettes to almost everyone there and asked them to smile because the photographs may be in the newspapers the next day. Not only did I cracked a few jokes to enliven the situation, but promised them that I would bring some food the next day,” he added.
The prosecution was led by DPP Dato’ Nordin Hassan who was assisted by DPPs Nazrul Nizam Mohd Zameri, Cheng Heng Kher and Anati Kisahi while Ram was assisted by counsels Kamarudin Mohd Chinki and YS Lo.