Semporna kidnap: White Rajahs of Pulau Pom Pom
BY P.K. KATHARASON AND PHILIP GOLINGAI
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SEMPORNA: Several Caucasians working at diving resorts operating in Pulau Pom Pom have become a stumbling block to security in the border waters off this town on Sabah's east coast.
They work either as senior resort management staff or dive masters but behave like "White Rajahs" who own the island, according to General Operations Forces personnel and journalists covering the killing of a Taiwanese tourist and kidnapping of his partner at the Pom Pom Island Resort last Friday.
GOF personnel based on the island have had bitter experiences with the "white guys" at the resort and complained that they were restricted from entering the premise even to buy food.
"We were told they did not want their guests to see us carrying weapons and that we should keep out of the resort area," said a GOF man who had to depend on daily foodstuff brought from Semporna town, a 45-minute boat ride away.
The general feeling among the GOF units was that the Caucasian management staff "looked down" on them and didn't want them anywhere near the resort.
"How are we going to secure the area if you confine us to only our outpost?" he added.
When journalists from several media organisations went to the resort on Saturday, they were told that no visitors were allowed in but only guests as it was a private property.
A woman photographer was shouted at by a Caucasian who ordered her to delete the shots taken at the resort. The team of journalists was later shown the way out of the jetty by another Caucasian manager.
He told them all visitors required written permission to enter the resort area.
The GOF personnel told the journalists that they had faced similar rude experiences and were unable to effectively patrol the area as the resort operators claimed they wanted privacy for their guests.
On Sunday, when The Star journalists made another boat trip around Pulau Pom Pom and landed on the shores of Celebes Beach Resort, they encountered two obnoxious Caucasian characters.
This time, one of the Caucasians - either an American or Englishman - turned nasty, using four-letter words and telling in no uncertain terms that it was their private property and even the beach front was out of bounds to visitors.
"You cannot even land a boat here," he shouted while a local staff member explained that written permission was required but could not tell whose authority or written permit was required to visit Pulau Pom Pom, which houses four diving resorts.
The two Caucasians appeared to be dive masters of the Celebes resort and when asked if they had any work permit, they turned around and claimed they were guests.
Semporna tour operators and boatmen ferrying visitors to the islands said the crude behavior of such Caucasians towards local people in several of the resorts was a sore point among villagers and the security personnel on the ground.
They said the well-connected resort owners, employing rude Caucasians in the guise of guests, were breeding anger and inviting more kidnappings not only for money but also revenge.
THE STAR
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