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The Star

Publication Date : 17-03-2013

Malaysia will ask the Philippine government to give details of the evidence it claims to have that the intrusion by Sulu terrorists into Lahad Datu last month was linked to opposition leaders in the republic.

“If reports are true that the intrusion was linked to certain opposition leaders in that country, the Philippine government should take appropriate action against them,” said Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said Malaysia would use diplomatic channels to get more detailed information on the claim.

Muhyiddin was speaking to reporters after launching a Hello Commodity programme organised by the Plantations Industries and Commodities Ministry at Pagoh near here yesterday.

He said he had read a statement on the issue by Defence Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who met the Philippine Defence Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin in Putrajaya on Friday.

“We hope they will provide us detailed information on the matter as we want to know the true situation behind the intrusion,” said Muhyiddin.

To a question that some of the Sulu gunmen may have lived in Sabah for many years and had become citizens, Muhyiddin said: “The matter has yet to be determined.”

Earlier, when addressing a crowd at Bukit Bakri here, he said the plantations in Felda Sahabat, where the gunmen were hiding, were huge and it was not easy for the country's security forces to flush them out.