Esscom committed to restore Esszone’s safe and prosperous image

Esscom commander Deputy Commissioner Datuk Victor B Sanjos (standing in uniform) during the engagement session with Esszone community from Kinabatangan district on Wednesday.

KOTA KINABALU: The Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) is committed to seeing the safe and prosperous image of the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) restored internationally.

Esscom commander Deputy Commissioner Datuk Victor B Sanjos on Wednesday (March 27) said efforts towards this included proposing to the government to change Esszone map which is currently marked in red colour, to white colour instead.

“We also propose to rebrand it as a prosperous area (kawasan kesejahteraan) to instil confidence that Sabah’s east coast area is safe for everyone.

“Besides that, Esscom has also invited foreign ambassadors and dignitaries to visit the east coast and see for themselves the prosperity and beauty under Esszone,” he said when launching the Esscom engagement session with Esszone community under Kinabatangan district at Dewan Sri Lamag, Kinabatangan.

About 300 public members from that district attended the engagement session, which was aimed to see the acceptance of the community and target groups under trading, business, fisheries, tourism and education sectors towards the replacement of the Esszone maritime curfew to Movement Control Order (MCO) last year and analyse the effectiveness of the new order.

The session also discussed identifying existing threats and carrying out assessments on the move to either reduce the size of Esszone MCO, put an end to the order, or apply a hybrid system instead.

The review will also deliberate on alternative mechanisms to replace the order (Esszone MCO) should a decision be made to terminate it.

“We hope the Kinabatangan community who attended this engagement session answer the questionnaire on Esszone MCO study as best as they can so that we collect comprehensive results for the interest of Sabah and Malaysia as a whole,” he added.

Victor said that besides Kinabatangan, the Esszone MCO study which is conducted by the Home Ministry and coordinated by Esscom with the assistance of Universiti Malaysia Sabah, will also be carried out in five other districts under Esszone MCO namely Semporna, Sandakan, Beluran, Kunak and Lahad Datu.