1.

0 Introduction
Since the ending of communist insurgency in Malaysia on the 2 nd December 1989, an
insurgency in Malaysia that lasted 21 years, 5 months, 2 weeks and I day since 17th June 1968
(Navaratnam, 2001), Malaysia has not been into any conflict that could undermines
Malaysia's sovereignty for over 2 decade up until recent events which took place in Sabah.
Less than 300 militants infiltrated Sabah on the 11th February 2013. Those militants claimed
to be from Sultanate of Sulu and their objective is to North Borneo as their territory. The
attack was led by Agbimuddin Kiram which is the brother to Jamalul Kiram III that claims to
be the legitimate Sultan of Sulu.
When the militants arrived at the shores of Sabah which comprise of the land of
Tanduo, Lahad Datu, Semporna, Kunak and Tawau, Royal Malaysia Police (RMP)
immediately have blockade for roads leading to and away from those vicinity. RMP
immediately assign their Marine Operations Force to cut off any supplies of logistics or
militants that will attempt to infiltrate from Philippines. Coordination of security forces of
Philippines is established where Philippines security forces will sever routes that will enable
infiltration to Malaysia. Kiram remain defiant of Philippines President Benigno Aquino III
srequest to retreat back from Sabah. Kiram is bent on to claim back the North Borneo as part
of his territory under Sultanate of Sulu (PDI, 2013).
On 1st March 2013, gunfire exchanges occur between RMP and Sulu militants in
Lahad Datu. The attack subsequently follows by a new more attacks in Kunak and Semporna.
Operation Daulat was then declared by Malaysia s security forces on the 5 th March 2013
where security forces were given mandate by Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Tun Razak to
take any action against the group. Operation Daulat was an operation in conjunction with
RMP and Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM). Royal Malaysia Air Force sent fighter jets to
bomb Kiram suspected location where he resides. Mortar fire continued after aerial
bombardment has commenced. The conflict ended with most of Sulu militants either arrested
or killed and Malaysia established new security zone over the region to prevent any
intrusions in the future. Eastern Sabah Security Command and Eastern Sabah Security Zone
were the security zones established. Sulu militants that were arrested were charged under
Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012.
This paper will attempt to identify weakness in Malaysia security and politics. Role of
security forces being carried out will be briefly discussed and lastly this paper will attempt to
investigate possible ways or mechanism that could prevent such event from happening in the
future.

2.0 Background
It is important to identify the type of warfare being carried out in the Lahad Datu
Standoff incident. Different warfare requires different strategy, operational and tactical
knowledge. There is nuclear warfare which meant states will carry out using nuclear weapons
but theory of Mutually Assured Destruction prevented such warfare from happening during
the Cold War when nuclear was likely to be carried out. Conventional warfare meant that
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military operations ordered by the state to be launched on another state .Conventional warfare
is where states that have the most advance in military capability or soldier will win the war
considering generals knowing how to fully utilize force multiplier to their advantage. There
are biological warfare, chemical warfare, attrition warfare, armored warfare, electronic
warfare, mine warfare, space warfare and so on.
The warfare that is being carried out in this Lahad Datu Standoff incident is
considered as Asymmetrical warfare. Asymmetrical warfare or also vaguely known as
irregular warfare, limited warfare, unconventional warfare, terrorism, guerrilla warfare.
Asymmetrical warfare has long existed since the beginning of human establishment on earth
though the term hasnt been coined yet. Tribes that established in the early ages fought enemy
by ambushing them or adopting hit and run tactics to achieve objective. Conventional
warfare is a new warfare compared to asymmetrical warfare because to carry out
conventional warfare meant to have a standing army. A society must have organized
agricultural and societal planning to channel additional resources such as food and money to
maintain a standing army.
The ambush at Beth-Horon in year AD 66. There are more than thirty three thousand
troops from the Roman Empire March into Beth-Horon attempt to suppress a Jewish
insurrection (Bloom, 2010). The Roman army of that time was the most fearsome army with
their superior training, discipline and equipment. The Roman army was good for only
vanquishing enemies in an open battle and not more. They would wear their heavy armour
and cling on to their weapons advance to the battle field to face their enemy slowly in
formation. Roman army will first launch their javelin which is called a pillum at the enemy,
when the enemy charges toward them. Infantry of Roman army will then charge towards the
enemy with their scutum which ia a shield weighs approximately 10kg and a gladius, a
double edged sword (James, 2003). Cestius Gallus that has no battlefield experience during
the siege apparently call off the attack and give the order to retreat. The Jewish people must
have recalled back what is written in the old testament at 1 Maccabees 3:16-23:
When (Seron, leading the Syrian army) approached the
ascent of Beth-Haron, Judah went out to meet him with a small
company. But seeing the army coming to meet them, they said to
Judah, "How can we, few as we are, fight against so great and so
strong a multitude? And we are faint, for we have eaten nothing
today"
Judah replied, "It is easy for many to be hemmed in by few,
for in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between saving by
many or by few. It is not on the size of army that victory depends,
but strength comes from Heaven. They come against us in great
insolence and lawlessness to destroy us and our wives and our
children, and to rob us; but we fight for our lives and our laws. He
himself will crush them before us; as for you, do not be afraid of
them".

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When he finished speaking, he rushed suddenly against

Seron and his army, and they were crushed before him. They
pursued them down the descent of Beth-Horon to the plain.
Spurred on by their past victory of Jewish people in Beth-Horon at166 BC, the Jewish
guerrillas ambushed the retreating Roman army in a treacherous mountaion path. Roman
army with their heavy weaponry, shield and equipment could not outmatch the more agile
guerrillas (Goldberg, 2002). In the end, more than 5,700 Roman soldier under Cestius
command perished and suffered humiliating defeat.
This conflict clearly showing that warfare that is asymmetrical in nature existed long
before the term is coined. The conflict illustrated above is just one of much asymmetrical
warfare from the ancient times to present. Conventional military tries to suppress uprising but
lastly guerrillas exploited geographical feature (mountainous terrain) to counter the
conventional military and gain a tactical victory. Geographical feature therefore is an
important variable to determine the outcome of the battle.
Asymmetrical warfare is a good exploit of power difference between sates and
insurgents. Insurgent that are carrying out asymmetrical warfare can coerce the enemy into a
stalemate in a tactical way, thereby lengthening the conflict and enemy will eventually lose
the political will during the stalemate (Herrerra, 2001). For countries, even millennia, weaker
opponents have sought to neutralize their enemys technology or numerical superiority by
fighting in ways or on battlefields that nullify it (Goulding, 2000).
Asymmetrical warfare has usually been viewed as wars that was carried out by the
timid and have no pride in any victory that would have gained. Conventional military will
view the insurgents carrying out asymmetrical warfare as cowards. For the insurgents, the
method or the process to gain victory does not need to be conventional, most importantly is
the winning. To have states military viewing insurgents carrying out asymmetrical warfare as
cowards is not a good motivation towards the military effectiveness in carrying out their duty.
What the state should view insurgents should be highly effective militant that is hard to
eradicate and they are operating in aground they usually will be more familiar than the states
conventional army. Insurgents will be ever more fearful too if they could get their hands on
Weapons of Mass Destruction like Chemical, Biological or Nuclear (Tucker, 1997).
The fascinating scenario that will happen during asymmetrical warfare is the
conventional army will neither win military, nor they are defeated militarily. In most cases,
conventional armys superiority not only does it not guaranteed victory; it may under certain
circumstances prove to be counterproductive (Mack, 1975).
11th September 2011 terrorist attack on United States captured the public attention of a
new phase of warfare. Terrorism definitely is not new but globalisation has elevated terrorism
to be carried out in a global dimension. The president addressed this topic very eloquently to
a West Point graduating class:
This is another type of war, new in its intensity, ancient in its
origin-war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins, war by
ambush instead of by combat; by infiltration, instead of aggression,
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seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of

engaging himIt preys on economic unrest and ethnic conflicts. It
requires in those situations where we must counter it, and these are
the kinds of challenges that will be before us in the next decade if
freedom is to be saved, a whole new kind of strategy, a wholly
different kind of force, and therefore a new and wholly different
kind of military training (Kennedy, 1962).
Terrorist that emerged shows that they do not abide any rule of law and respect no
national boundaries. Terrorist equipped with no advanced technology can create destruction in
a scale never thought by world leaders. Conventional military is unable to prevent such attack
because terrorist does not fight face to face. The perception of threat, security, strategy and
tactics has evolved in our era of asymmetrical warfare. Terrorist that operates in urban terrain
exploited the vulnerabilities of the given terrain and mingle inconspicuously among innocent
civilian before they strike. Terrorist in Iraq and Afghanistan uses their featureless desert to
plant Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to main military target.
Sun Tzu in his book Art of War Stress a lot on the concept of asymmetrical in
warfare. Sun Tzu wrote:
All warfare is based on deception. When confronted with an enemy
one should offer the enemy a bait to lure him; feign disorder and
strike him. When he concentrates, prepare against him; where he is
strong, avoid him (Sun Tzu, 1963).
With illustration of the above quote, a good military strategist or tactician will always
look forward to carry out a battle by exploiting variables asymmetric I nature. Any armed
units that are up against enemies which are stronger will utilize asymmetrical warfare as their
force multiplier to increase their probability of success.
Max Boot (2013) did intensive research on asymmetrical warfare and analyse the
history of guerrilla warfare from ancient times to present. A huge databases compiled by him
detailed that insurgents have been getting more successful since 1945 but still lose most of the
time (Refer to Appendix I). Conventional military tactics do not work against an asymmetrical
threat. Threat perception for military leaders and decision makes have to revolutionize to
understand that state will always be more prone to asymmetrical threat than conventional
threat. It is important therefore to train police and military to handle such threat effectively.

3.0 MMalaysias Ddefence Ccapabilities and cost of Lahad Datu Standoff Incident
Malaysias defense capability is clearly on the upper hand in the conflict. Though our
defense budget is much smaller than other state in Asia, but it is still sufficient to win an
asymmetrical conflict with Sulu insurgents. (Please refer to Appendix II for more
information)

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Figure 0: Shows the military budget increment of Southeast Asia Countries (Military
Balance, 2013)
With Malaysias defense budget in year 2013 to be RM15.4 Billion, it is doubtful that
Sulu Sultanate could match that amount of money. Our active security forces of around 109,
000 people in the least estimate could easily win the insurgents with only a few hundred
people. Malaysia military assets which are acceptable in worlds standard easily outmatch the
insurgents asset.
The cost of the asymmetrical warfare carried out by Sulu militants incurred more cost
upon Malaysia than on the group of militants themselves. During the conflict, citizens of the
region were unable to carry out everyday lives normally due to fear of being caught in
crossfire. Economic activity came to a halt and citizens were forced to stay at home all the
time due to their own security.

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Royal Malaysia Police were the first organization to be ordered to handle the conflict.
There were 2 VAT 69 operative died in the first battle when they were ambushed by Sulu
militants. Few more officers died following another ambush in Semporna where they are
around 30 police officers.
Royal Malaysian Air Force sent F/A 18 Super hornet and Hawk fighter jets to do
aerial bombardment in the area where Kiram and his militants were known. Cost of fuel and
bombs to carry out the attack is enormous. Mortar attack also being launched after aerial
bombardment has finished. Thousands rounds of ammunitions were being expended with
Malaysian military sending their armored personnel carrier to support their operations. Such
equipments were needed to be transferred over long distance from West Malaysia to the
conflict region and fuel to run it incurs high cost.
After the incident, Malaysia decided there is the need to establish permanent security
zone in the area with will be under ESSCOMM. Such move incurs additional cost to
Malaysia as those security zones will attempt to prevent infiltration of militants into Malaysia
in the first place.

4.0 Weakness
4.1 Geopolitics
Geography is an important aspect to consider in a state. Domestic politics and foreign
policy of a state is always dictated by its geography therefore there are exists a field of study
named Geopolitics. Geopolitics is study of how geography affects international politics and
international relations. Regimes and government may change over a course of millenniums,
but geography of a region remain the same therefore it is important for leaders to realize the
importance of geography and use it as their advantage.
United States of America is located in North America. USA is a very well buffered
state and protected from four directions, North, South, East and West. South of USA would
be Canada where both states are separated with a lot of lakes and some of the lakes are
massive. Such geography will make it hard for Canada to attack USA because of those lakes
that will hamper any military capability Canada has to offer. To the South of USA, state of
Mexico exists where vast region of desert separated Mexico and USA. Any military
operations to attack USA from Mexico will have their military travel over the vast desert that
will give USA ample time of warning to prepare for imminent attack. There is Atlantic Ocean
and Pacific Ocean in the West and East side of USA. Such oceans effectively serve as USAs
protection should they be attack from sea. To have naval capability that could cruise the long
distance needed to reach USA and have sufficient military power to attack them will need a
lot of research in military technology. It will give USA a fair warning should any state are
attempting to overpower USA militarily. Figure 1.1 refers to the map of USA that serves as
illustration to the description given below.

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Figure 1.1: Map of United States of America

Geography therefore plays a huge part in the security of a state. Malaysia separates in
two parts which are West Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia) and East Malaysia. East of
Peninsular Malaysia is the South China Sea where the region serves as a secure border to any
nearby states. West of Peninsular Malaysia is the Straits of Malacca where it is possible to
kayak from Indonesia to Malaysia. Security in the Straits of Malacca is therefore much
stricter than South China Sea. Possible of military attack from Indonesia whereby they will
travel across Straits of Malacca is very easy.

Figure 1.2: Map of Malaysia

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Figure 1.3: Map of Sabah and Philippines

For East Malaysia that is located in the Borneo, more security measures will be
needed. Sarawak borders with Indonesia and span a length of 2, 019.5 KM. such a long
border will requires a lot of security to safeguard Malaysias sovereignty. In Sabah, though it
is separated from Philippines with the Sulu Sea and the Celebs Sea but there are
approximately 7,107 islands scatter all over the seas separating Sabah and Philippines (PPHT,
2010). For any potential military or terrorist to travel over the seas to Malaysia does not
requires impressive blue-water navy. Any small ships could travel from Philippines to Sabah
easily by leapfrogging over all the islands (refer to Figure 1.2 and Figure 1.3). It will only
take 20 minutes ride on speedboat to travel from the nearest point of Philippines to Malaysia.
It is no surprising for some Philippines citizen to drop by Sabah visiting their relatives and go
back Philippines in the same day (The Star, 2013). As the border is loosely guarded, it is very
easy for anyone to smuggle firearms to Malaysia and begins an assault when the time is right.
Military leader and political leader knowing the geography in the region could
potentially be volatile should assign more assets to guard the area. The culture in the region
amplifies the instability of Sabah as relative of Malaysian might be just leaving over the
border of Philippines and they will travel to Malaysia by leapfrogging over islands illegally.
In September 2013, 7, 068 illegal Philippines immigrants were arrested and deported back to
their home country. It is very easy therefore to travel over the Sulu Sea to Sabah and
interested party would want to smuggle arms and explosives too to initiate a conflict (Borneo
Post, 2013).
Before the security Forces Royal Sultanate of Sulu attack Lahad Datu there are about
more than 6500 security forces that include Royal Malaysia Polices (RMP) and Angkatan
Tentera Malaysia (ATM) located at Sabah. There are about 4 PGA (Pasukan Gerak Am)s
battalion which are Battalion 14 PGA, Tawau, Battalion 15 PGA. Sandakan, Battalion 16
PGA. Kota Kinabalu and lastly Battalion 17 PGA, Lahad Datu and one battalion of Battalion
Kesembilan Rejimen Renjer Diraja which is located at Tawau, Sabah. The Battalion
Kesembilan Rejimen Renjer Dirajas ong was composed by University Malaysia Sarawaks
previous commandant, Prof Dr Mohd Fadzil bin Abd Rahman.
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Though there are permanent battalions of security forces stationed there, the attack is
still carried out on Malaysian soil. Such encounter will make everybody hesitant into thinking
whether the security forces positive there are effective or not to stop any illegal activities.
Battalion placement might not be strategic enough to be alert the security forces of any
attacks. As the geography of the area makes the region volatile, security forces should hold
more exercises in stimulating a conflict to better equipped themselves. Security protocols
should be revised too as the protocols in used currently might have been rendered obsolete.

4.2 Security Forces on Unfamiliar Terrain

Terrain of geographical region is imperative for security forces to understand in order
to win any conflict. Special operations forces of a state are therefore often be called to handle
a conflict asymmetrical in nature. Special Operation Forces of Malaysia is known as VAT69
for Royal Malaysia Police and Grup Gerak Khas for Malaysian Armed Forces. A brief
description of various terrains and their challenge will be discussed together in comparison
with the capability of SOF and normal infantry.
Geographical feature is important to influence the outcome of battle. It is a factor that
could be used as a force multiplier. Utilizing geographical feature could enhance the
capability of an armed unit or be destroyed should the unit does not have the sufficient
knowledge to utilize the terrain. There are all kinds of geographical feature of terrain on earth
where battles have taken place. Battle could happen in urban environment, arctic region,
mountainous region, tropical rainforest/jungle, desert region and ocean fronts/naval
condition.
As asymmetrical warfare will not have the enemy confronting the states military face
to face, it would be certain that guerrillas or insurgents will want to maximize their
probability of success by operating in treacherous terrain which in their mind will hinder the
effectiveness of states armed forces. Infantry forces of a state are trained to fight in open
ground and face the enemy head on. Such technique will not be useful when fighting
guerrillas as they will avoid head on confrontation.
SOF however is trained to counter the tactics used by insurgents, guerrillas and
terrorist. Weaker player will charge the nature of the battlefield to make it irrelevant for
conventional military to conduct in. Conventional military will create too much collateral
damage in their hunt for insurgents of guerrillas where publics support for the government
will grind to a halt. Conventional military would also incite more enemies as they lay damage
on everything.
In tropical rainforest, guerrillas will hide in thick rainforest where they will not be
spotted from aerial surveillance. Rainforest provided them with food and water that could
sustain them in an indefinite amount of time. Guerrillas could fake a track for infantry
soldiers to follow and lead them into an ambush. Force multiplication using geographical
feature is undeniably effective. Government spends billions of dollars in strengthening
defense institution primarily aimed at conventional military but conventional military is not
meeting the threat that asymmetrical warfare provided.
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In urban environment, terrorist could operate deliberately in a manner where

collateral damage is ensured should the terrorists be compromised. Terrorist could operate
invisibly using urban terrain as its camouflage. SOF will need have their element of surprise
and speed to either arrest or kill the terrorist before any harm could do to innocent civilian.
In arctic environment, personnel will be exposed to extreme cold. Blizzards and
snowstorm will last for days at a time. Snowstorm can be guerrillas force multiplier by being
mobile in that environment hoping they could slip pass defended territory unnoticed. SOF
trained in different geographical settings will be able to identify how guerrillas will exploit
the environmental condition and counter it with suitable tactics.
In mountainous region, acclimatization is important to the performance of troops.
Without proper acclimatization, it will be fatal to anyone. High altitude mountain warfare for
example in the Siachen Glacier poses a lot of environmental threats to any troops operating
there. In that region, there will be crevasses which are very deep at 50 meters or more, a fall
will certainly break bones of the person who fell. Strong gust of wind that will kick up snow
which could blind any personnel is dangerous where they could be heading to a cliff yet has
no visibility. A valanche risk is very high too in high altitude region especially there are new
snow fallen. For combat, low barometric pressure will affect the bullets flight trajectory in
high altitude mountains.
In desert region, daytime and night temperature might differ greatly and operators
need to well prepare to face those temperatures. Sandstorm can happen any moment that will
hinder the progress of anyone caught in it. Insufficient water supply might lead to severe
dehydration and ultimately death. Featureless desert plain will make the silhouette of a
person very distinguishable thus it will be difficult to stay concealed.
In ocean fronts/naval condition, it would mean either coming in contact to the target
beach covertly or fighting terrorist in the middle of the ocean. Both pose severe risk to the
operator. Ocean fronts might be full of corals that will shred mobile speed boats. Huge wave
will pound speed boats to the cliffs and destroys the boat and everything in it.
Malaysian security forces during the conflict are not familiar with the terrain of the
region. A group of well-prepared guerrillas will research the terrain in their area of operation
well before launching any attacks. Security forces in such instances might be easily exploited
by those guerillas as all the time most of the security forces training were in a controlled
environment and not having real life simulations of conflict all the time to keep up with their
capabilities.
Should PGA battalion positioned in the area by carrying out their supposed objective
every day when they work, it would be possible for security forces to know most of the
terrain in territory like the back of their hand. Such information will be useful to use as
valuable intelligence that could use those terrain as force multiplier for the security forces.
Topographical map will help security forces to understand the region to some degree but it
can never be replaced by security forces going into the region constantly prior the conflict to
know the region completely.

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Malaysian security forces in the aspect to terrain has failed both physically and
misinformation. Physically depicts where security forces arent regularly exposes themselves
to train in harsh environment where there might be mangrove swamps and oil palm
plantation. In the aspects of information, Malaysian security forces has failed to carry out
their most basic job which is to identify their area of operations and have knowledge on any
region of their terrains that are under their jurisdiction or area of operation. As such, force
multiplier using terrain could not be utilized by Malaysian Security Forces.

4.3 Personnels Integrity

No state or organization could function well if the people within it are not cooperating
with each other with a common goal which for Royal Malaysian Police is to give security to
the state and community. The enemy will be operating in an effective manner should the
enemy group gave internal source of their target organization. Intentionally withholding
information that could assist in the assault upon Malaysia is a serious integrity breach.
A Malaysian Special Branch officer Corporal Hassan Ali Basari has been convicted
for intentionally withholding information about the Sulu intrusion into Sabah. He was
charged under Section 130M of the Penal Code. High Court Justice Ravinthran Paramuguru
sentenced Corporal Hassab Ali Basari with the maximum jail term under the section as he
noted that the accused was not an ordinary member of the general public. (TheStar, 2013)
The withhelded information led to the intrusion of Sabah successfully carried out by
the Sulu insurgents. Security forces were being brutally murdered by the insurgents with their
corpse mutilated. Families of the security forces suffered from the loss of their loved ones.
Infrastructures destroy needed rebuilding cost the government money. Lots of money was
also spent on deceased security forces family to ensure their future is secure.
An act of seemingly withholding information has led to a catastrophic event that
caused Malaysia and Malaysian citizen to suffer from it. A polices job is to protect the
people but due to one police personnel integrity, security forces were injured and killed while
they were trying to maintain the countrys sovereignty.
Security forced that is tasked to protect our country must all the time be committed in
their job. Security forces personnel must be trustworthy and accountable. This Lahad Datu
conflict has shown the great impact of one personnels integrity that can cause so much
damage and harm to the people and the government. Royal Malaysia Police therefore must
screen their personnel properly to ensure officers to be integrity and prevent such incident
from happening again within the organization.

5.0 Role of Security Personnel/ Agency During The Incident

5.1 Royal Malaysian Police: Special Branch
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Malaysian Special Branch within the Royal Malaysian Police was established by
British Administration in the early 20th Century. Malaysian Special Branch was formed
exactly like the British Special Branch set up in United Kingdom. Special Branch was very
effectively infiltrating the chain of command of the Malayan Communist Party. During the
communist insurgency, work carried out by the Malaysian Special Branch was praised as
one of the finest establishments of its kind in world. (RMP, 2014)
Special Branch therefore in this incident, their role is to gather intelligence that
would give them an anticipation of the assault. Special Branch could then inform relevant
Branch within the Royal Malaysian Police to prevent the assault from happening. As there is
the failure of one Special Branch officer to notify his superior of the impending assault,
intelligence of the matter was never collected and because of that the assault was carried out.
As the result of intelligence failure in the beginning, the assault was carried out. It is
then the role of Special Branch to gather any intelligence they can on the group of insurgents.
The number of insurgents has to be identified with the family background of insurgents be
checked. Weapons and firearms used by insurgents will be investigated to ensure security
forces operating in the area know what to expect from the insurgents.
Collaboration with foreign intelligence service in the Philippines that has database of
background of the insurgents is imperative to the resolving of the matter. Cross border crime
is hard to be solved with just the country where the crime is being committed. International
Criminal Police Organization (ICPO) is created to tackle the issue of transitional crime in a
world that is increasingly globalized. ICPO works to coordinate all criminal information into
one huge database that could be accessed by their member countries. Obtaining cooperation
from Philippines for this conflict therefore is important because the insurgents were
originated from Philippines.
As Special Branch will do their best channeling valuable intelligence back to HQ
regarding on the issue, security personnel could then carry out action based on the
intelligence. Intelligence such as location where insurgents were spotted, villagers that were
harboring the insurgents, supplies route of the insurgents from Philippines to Malaysian etc.
These intelligences are crucial to assists security forces to resolve the conflict as soon as
possible.
The role of Special Branch after the conflict is to analyze the weakness that lead to
the intrusion and draw out plans to patch the security loophole. Such attack on Malaysia is
grave intelligence failure; Special Branch will have to revise their Standard Operational
Producer for the personnel when there is possibility of their kind of conflict occur again.

5.2 Defensive/Offensive Forces

Various security forces of the country took part in the Lahad Datu conflict. Due to
information being classified and not much information released to media, there is no certainty
which unit operated in the region. With absolute certainty VAT69 and PGA did took part as
security forces during the conflict.
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The role of Defensive/Attacking forces is to suppress the advancement of the

insurgents further into Malaysia, eradicated possible insurgents hideout in the region, cut off
insurgents supplies of firearms/ food and lastly sweep the whole region to make sure all
insurgents are either killed or arrested.
Coordination of the security forces is important because the security forces are not
from one organization but from Royal Malaysian Police and Malaysian Armed Forces. Chain
of command to give order to the security forces must be clear to ensure correct actions are
carried out. As the insurgents have intruded into Malaysian soil, the first priority for any
security agency of any country is containment. Cordon off the region to prevent insurgents
from advancing further into Malaysia is crucial to prevent any insurgents projecting their
influence over a wider region. Containing their presence and influence in a certain region will
be easier to deal with by the security forces.
After containment of the area, the Malaysian Armed Forces sent jet fighters to carry
out aerial bombardment and mortars to bomb possible location of insurgents before
advancing into insurgents occupied area. Having aerial support and bombing the ground
could potentially eliminate insurgents hiding in the area without any harm done to our
security forces. Aerial support could also increase the morale of our security troops to be
motivated in the fight. After bombardment, it is then the task of security forces from Royal
Malaysian Police and Malaysian Armed Forces to move into the area and purge out any
possible insurgents.
No war or conflict could sustain without stable supplies of food or firearms. It is
therefore important to cut off any possible supply routes of the insurgents that might be
supplying them from Philippines. Pasukan Gerakan Marin and Royal Malaysian Navy will
need to coordinate their petrol routes effectively to make sure there is no loophole where
insurgents could potentially travel to Sabah easily. It is also their task to arrest any insurgents
that are attempting to escape back to Philippines through waterway. Presence of high speed
patrol boats armed with impressive array of weapons will demotivate the insurgents that are
fighting in the area where their hideout could spot these patrol boats from beach. Morale of
insurgents will drop even lower when they know they no escape routes left as advancing into
Malaysia or travelling back to Philippines is impossible with security forces tightens up their
security in the area. Such sudden morale drop hopefully forces remaining insurgents to
surrender without any further bloodshed.
After the insurgents were either killed or arrested by initial assault by security forces,
the whole area must be swept again thoroughly to ensure no more insurgents remain before
declaring the region caf. Patrol of seas in the region need to be remained alert to prevent
insurgents carrying out second assault on Malaysia. Illegal Philippines immigrants arrested
should be deported back to their home country as soon as possible if they are found to be
innocent. Illegal immigrants pose a direct security threat in the region.

5.3 NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

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Role of Malaysias National Security Council (NSC) is crucial to this operation

because it unites all armed forces under this agency. Military experts and academicians
working within NSC will form a plan which is beneficial to Malaysia. Though there are no
reports or information regarding National Security Councils role in this issue but we will
attempt to highlight the role of NSC would have been in this operation.
Insurgents claimed to be form the security forces from the Royal Sultanate of Sulu
and their motive is to claim back part of Sabah as their territory. International law dictates
that any actor has developed a territory more will be the sole of owner of the territory.
Malaysia has certainly developed Sabah more for the past decades than any non-state actor.
NSC will also try to delegitimize the insurgents credibility as Sulu Sultanate as a state to
make sure the case will not even be brought forth at the international courts of Justice
because Sulu Sultanate is not a sovereign state. Ordering Royal Malaysian Police to First
handle the conflict is therefore important because it shows Malaysia is handling the issue by
treating the insurgents as typical illegal immigrants that are on Malaysian soil. Should
Malaysia sent soldiers to defend the region, it would seems that Malaysia has indirectly
recognizes the sovereignty of Sulu Sultanate. Our soldiers in the operation are to back up
Royal Malaysian Police and that shows insurgents are illegal immigrants even though they
are wearing army uniform and it is Polices Standard Operational Procedure to arrest them.
If the security forces of Sulu Sultanate wish to be recognized as legitimate state actor,
any conflict carried out should abide the Laws of Armed Conflict, Geneva Convention and
Hague Convention. All these law limit military action and attempt to protect human rights of
everyone. The following case study is where Malaysia sees insurgents as criminals instead of
recognized legitimate forces. Insurgents did not operate within the boundaries of law.
On March 1, 2013 the intruder has successfully cordoned off by the police. When the
efforts of the police surrounding the intruder has manage to emotionally stress to the
insurgents, and the insurgents waved white flag as mean as give up (Bernama, 2013).
According to the International war laws of the Geneva Convention of 1949 through the
protocol (i) Act 1977 states that white flag is a sign of surrender opponents and attack back
opponents action is a real war offense. But what happened instead was the insurgents take
advantage of police obeying the law and try to retaliate in full force when police officers. The
police officers manage to firmly hold their ground even they have sustain serious injuries and
insurgents retreated. Most attacks by the insurgents is a violation of international law notably
in the 1949 Geneva Convention protocols (i) the prohibition of article 37 states:
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting
the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is
obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed
conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following
acts are examples of perfidy :
a) the feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of truce or of a surrender;
b) the feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or sickness;
c) the feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and
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d) the feigning of protected statues by the use of signs, emblems or uniforms of the
United Nations or of neutral or others States not Parties to the conflict.
2. Ruses of war are not prohibited. Such ruses are acts which are intended to mislead an
adversary or to induce him to act recklessly but which infringe no rule of international
law applicable in armed conflict and which are not perfidious because they do not
invite the confidence of an adversary with respect to protection under that law. The
following are examples of such ruses; the use of camouflage, decoys, mock
operations and misinformation.
In conclusion, insurgents carrying out attack on Malaysias security personnel have
violated all International Law. They will not be recognized as legitimate state actor and the
issue will not be able to be submitted by them to the International Court of Justice attempting
to claim parts of Sabah as their own territory. Malaysia arrested those insurgents and could
charge them under our Penal Code Section 121 for Waging War against the King.

6.0 Prevention of Such Conflict from Happening

Establishment of Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM) commence after the
conflict was resolved. It is a security area covering around 1,400km of the East Coast of
Sabah from Kudat to Tawau. The purpose of ESSCOM is to strengthen maritime security of
the region to prevent any future intrusion, terrorist activities or privacy that could happen in
the volatile region (TheStar, 2013). Security threats halts economic activity resume their
normal daily function. Strengthening security of the country will also give confidence to
foreign investors to invest in Malaysia thereby benefits Malaysia with more prosperity.
ESSCOM will be task to build more police stations in the region and purchase more
speed boats to patrol the area with vast maritime border. More Pasukan Gerakan Am
personnel will be reassigned to the area to provide more security in preventing further
intrusion or terrorist act from happening.
Security forces that are task in the region to protect our nation's sovereignty must
constantly in training to be agile and resourceful during conflict. Training should never stop
after personnel have completed basic training. Training needs to be constant to build the
correct muscle memory and reflex into a person. When a conflict present itself the personnel
would not need to think but react instinctively from the training they have received.
The strategy of eradicating remnants of Sulu terrorist would be to relocate villagers
living close of the seaside to be move few kilometers inland. This is the same strategy during
our Malaysias communist insurgency where there are establishment of New village whereby
people where relocate there. The purpose of New village is to sever any attempt of the
population to provide help or supplies to terrorist that will be a threat to our country. This
concept of New village is equally applied in Lahad Datu.

7.0 Conclusion
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We can conclude that the conflict of Lahad Datu in year 2013 awakens the security
forces to the trend of warfare that is going to be carried out in future which is asymmetric in
nature. Security forces should update their training to fight asymmetrical warfare in addition
of their basic conventional warfare skills. More real life conflict simulation exercise should
be carried out by security forces as part of their training to be ready them for any future
conflict.
Malaysia's geopolitics clearly shows that the region in Sabah will be an easy target for
insurgents and the government should have strengthen the security in the first place instead of
waiting for an attack to happen then to establish various security zones. Security should be
better train in various terrains so as not to be defeated by insurgents in our country. Border
control requires a lot of human assets to guard it. Technology however could be better used to
monitor our border without expending much human assets. Thermal imaging system that
could detect heat radiation is effective in detecting intrusion even in complete human visual
blindness. The system will not be affected by fog like humans. The system's detection range
is very far which could decrease personnel stationed in the region. Infrared vision or night too
should be employed by personnel patrolling the region to be more effective. Unmanned
Aerial Vehicle too could be used to monitor our border for intrusion.
Preventing intrusion in the first place is always better then handling the conflict when
it happened. Security forces of Malaysia should all the time be prepared for any conflict.
Threat perception plays a huge role in the alertness of security forces.

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