‘I didn’t know armed group was coming to Lahad Datu’

KOTA KINABALU: The son of the late self-styled Sulu sultan Esmail Kiram has told the High Court that he had no advance knowledge of the armed intrusion at Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu that was led by his uncle Agbimuddin Kiram.

Datu Amir Bahar Hushin Kiram said the only reason he had come to Semporna six months prior to the February 2013 intrusion was to await his father who was supposed to go to Kuala Lumpur.

Questioned by Senior Federal Counsel Datuk Jamil Aripen, he said he arrived in Semporna on Sept 26, 2012, and with the exception of returning once to southern Philippines in November that year, remained in Sabah until police arrested him in March 2013.

Questioned further by Jamil, Amir Bahar said his father had instructed him to wait in Sabah because former Sabah Police Special Branch deputy director Zulkifli Abd Aziz was arranging for him (Esmail) to go to Kuala Lumpur.

He said his father wanted the sultanate’s claim on Sabah to happen through peaceful means while Agbimuddin was bent on a “more aggressive approach”.

“We do not claim to take over the sovereignty rights of Malaysia. We are only concerned about the claim on our proprietary rights,” Amir Bahar said.

The trial continues on Thursday.