More About Sandakan

The original post was about Sandakan, one of the two biggest cities in Sabah, Malaysia today.

Like the other war memorial tourist destination, the situs of the Bataan Death March, the place is also another site where the Death March of Sandakan is commemorated. Japanese warriors forced thousands and thousands of Javanese and Prisoners of War from the Allied Forces captured during the Second World War into forced labor in Sandakan and many of them died.

Before the population became conscious of the ecology, Sandakan was one of the Asian Region and the world's biggest source of illegally cut logs. Now a lot of restrictions are in place; although there are still isolated cases of unauthorized logging, it is not as much as before.

From Sandakan, or through it, comes the Jasmine rice that many Mindanao people eat on their tables. My dad used to say, if we were in Mindanao, why would we be buying rice from Manila? It is always cheaper to buy from Sandakan.

Today, of course, the Vietnamese, other countries boast about bringing imported rice to the tables of Mindanao folk. At a cheaper price. But Jasmine rice coming from the boats offloading goods from Sandakan is still the best rice of all!

The City of Sandakan is like many Oriental cities and places of interest, very mysterious. It is host to Sipadan, the place where some criminal elements or pirates, as it where, kidnapped tourists and handed them over to the Abu Sayyaf. Supposedly, it was a planned operation on the part of the Abu Sayyaf.

The hand-over by foreign and local criminals to their group after the snatching however somewhat belies that story.

Today, one of the terrorists that guarded the hostages kidnapped from Malaysia and brought to Sulu, believed to be Al Bader Parad (we really don't know if the tale is true or not), is the same one who is holding the International Red Committee on the Red Cross hostages in custody. But the snatching, again, was done by a different group. Former government employee, Raden Abu, a Jail Guard in Sulu Provincial Jail, led the kidnapping and did it inside the premises of the government's Provincial Capitol Compound itself. Other supposedly active government people were also trailing behind the hostage takers prior to and during the act

The hostages, Italian Eugene Vagni, Swiss national Andreas Notter and Filipino Mary Jane Lacaba, were immediately turned over to Al Bader Parad by Raden's group, that calls itself the "KILOS".

What is this KILOS? We simply won't know. But the people in Sulu, Zamboanga, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Cotabato, Marawi City, Lanao, now know a lot about what really transpired.

On the other hand, while the hostages are being supposedly dragged here and there by the Parad-KILOS Gang, the AFP is slowly disappearing from the scene. It is only the Police that are now doggedly pursuing the kidnappers and trying to rescue the hostages.

Whatever is the matter in that place, we sure hope it won't end up in the killing of the ICRC hostages and the other hostages that have recently been taken by the pirates, Abu Sayyaf, criminals, and the lot.