When A Foreign Flag Is Raised On Our Shores....

 When a foreign flag is raised on our shores, and ownership claims are made to our soil, what do you think we should do?

The Star Online > Nation 

Friday February 15, 2013

Gunmen want recognition, will only leave if demands are met

CENDERAWASIH (Lahad Datu): A group of close to 100 Filipinos, who are in a standoff with Malaysian authorities after forcing out villagers from Kampung Tanduao, is claiming to be the royal armed forces of the Sulu Sultanate.

They also want to stay put in Sabah and not be deported to the Philippines. The group, armed with an assortment of weapons, is confined within a tight security ring thrown around it by the Malaysian army, navy and police.

Its demands for recognition was made during negotiations over the past 48 hours with emissaries who had asked the group to surrender and leave the area peacefully.

It is understood that the emissaries have been given a time frame until noon today to end the standoff but the gunmen are saying they will only leave the village if their demands are met.

They had also purportedly raised the Philippines flag in the area.Speculation had surfaced about the identity of the gunmen but Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar had announced their identity and demands at a press conference in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.

According to local villagers, one group of gunmen had arrived in three boats mounted with machine guns and landed in Silabukan while another landed in Sungei Merah close to Kampung Tanduao last week.The villagers claimed that the gunmen went around demanding for food and water. Police were then notified about the presence of the gunmen.

Some villagers had also claimed that one group of about 30 gunmen armed with M16 rifles had entered Kampung Tanduao in Felda Sahabat 20 scheme and converged at the home of a man known as Ahmad Bom or Mat Bomb. The villagers, who declined to give their names for fear of repercussions, said that most of the gunmen were in military fatigues while others were in robes when they entered Kampung Tanduao. According to them, Ahmad was arrested by the police in the early 1990s for allegedly attempting to throw a fish bomb at the Felda office here after failing to settle a land dispute, thus earning him the nickname. He was also accused of being involved in fish bombing but was never charged.

The villagers claimed that Ahmad's son had gone to Bongoa in southern Philippines recently to seek help from the armed men to claim back his family's ancestral land within the Felda Sahabat scheme.

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Something New To Watch Over Us

In 2015, an improved micro-satellite with upgraded capabilities should be launched into space as the development work has commenced after the project on Razaksat-2 was announced in 2011. Better late than never as it seems the first may no longer be in working order. Never underestimate the importance of having our own satellite to watch over us.

February 07, 2013 20:02 PM

2nd National Micro Satellite RazakSAT-2 Scheduled For 2015 Launch

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is poised to have another remote sensing satellite to monitor the earth's surface when RazakSAT-2 is scheduled for launch in 2015.

National Space Agency director-general Dr Mustafa Din Subari said the RazakSAT-2 development programme commenced early this year, and was expected to take two years.
"RazakSAT-2 will be ready by the end of 2014 or early 2015, and it is a remote sensing satellite which could provide high resolution images for satellite image users in the country and abroad," he said.

Met at the National Planetarium's 19th anniversary celebration here today, he said RazakSAT-2 was being developed by Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd (ATSB), a local pioneer company in satellite development.

ATSB is also the company which developed the first national mirco satellite, RazakSAT which was launched, about four years ago.

Mustafa said RazakSAT-2 was a continuation of the RazakSAT satellite programme which was launched on July 14, 2009, with upgraded capabilities in terms of its software and satellite equipment. -- BERNAMA

  

The above is just some infomation on the first RazakSat for reference purpose.