ABU SAYYAF REBELS MAKE ASIAN CAPTIVES WORK HARD
By LUZ BAGUIORO
PHILIPPINE CORRESPONDENT
IT IS ironic that the Abu
Sayyaf rebels, a group of bandits who style themselves as pro-independence fighters,
discriminate against their Asian captives.
Medical teams dispatched to
deliver food and medicines to the kidnappers' jungle hideout in Jolo island reportedly
told the authorities that the nine Malaysian and two Filipino hostages were being made to
fetch water and cook for the 10 Western captives and their captors.
The Abu Sayyaf gunmen are also
said to treat the Malaysians harshly compared to other foreign hostages.
The reason: they resent the
recent summary deportation of some of their relatives from Sandakan by the Malaysian
authorities.
Although the Malaysian and
Philippine governments repeatedly declare that they do not succumb to blackmail, they are
not averse to the idea of having ""private parties'' broker a deal with the
kidnappers.
The buzz in the southern
Philippines is that a Malaysian businessman had contracted 15 former members of the Moro
National Liberation Front now living in Sabah to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf for the
release of all the hostages.
Malaysian forest ranger
Zulkarnain bin Hashim was released on June 22 in a move described by the rebels as a
""a goodwill gesture''.
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