RECENTLY, tourism stakeholders from Sabah appealed to travel advisories to lift the longstanding warnings about visiting the eastern districts of Sabah.

According to Assistant Tourism, Culture, and Environment Minister Datuk Joniston Bangkuai, Sabah’s east coast, including Sandakan, is safe, having implemented comprehensive security measures to ensure the highest level of safety for both residents and visitors. 

Joniston added that no untoward incidents have occurred over the years, his statement being echoed by local leaders who said the situation has already improved. However, how safe is safe? 

According to Malay Mail, the number of Sabah abductions statistics over the years (2003-2016) can be summed up as such: 

2003: Incident: 1 / Hostages: 6

2004: Incident: 1 / Hostages: 3

2005: Incident: 1 / Hostages: 3

2010: Incident: 1 / Hostages: 2

2012: Incident: 1 / Hostages: 2

2013: Incident: 1 / Hostages: 1 / Death: 1

2014: Incident: 4 / Hostages: 5 / Death: 1

2015: Incident: 1 / Hostages: 2

2016: Incident: 5 / Hostages: 16

Total: Incident: 16 / Hostages: 40 / Deaths: 2

To recap, following these threats, the government in 2013 established the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESS Zone) which encompasses the whole eastern coast of Sabah. 

This comprises northern Kudat to the southeastern corners of Indonesia. Within the ESS Zone, curfew is enforced on boat movements from 6pm to 6am, not forgetting a significant number of police and military personnel being deployed. 

Quoting a news piece dated 2020, Eastern Sabah Security Command commander Datuk Hazani Ghazali said to Bernama, “In 2017, there were no abduction cases, while there were two each in 2018 and 2019.

“We have foiled several kidnapping attempts since 2018, because when ESSCom receives information, all our personnel and assets will be deployed.”

Last year, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said no case of kidnap for ransom was reported in the ESS Zone since 2020. 

Saifuddin further added that an estimated number of 156,363 foreign tourists have entered the five ESS Zone tourist destinations - Kudat, Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Lahad Datu and Semporna. 

The numbers are based on the tourist arrivals from January to September 2023. To sum it up, Sabah has been abduction free since four years ago. 

Although the statistics have been encouraging so far, is four years too short a time for travel advisories to lift their warnings against visiting the eastern districts of Sabah? - Aug 15, 2024 

https://focusmalaysia.my/is-eastern-sabah-finally-safe-after-a-lengthy-history-of-abduction-cases/