/ stevenwarran's Library/ Notes/ January 3, 2001, South China Morning Post, Hostage negotiator to spill dirt in new book, [Yusof Hamdan]
January 3, 2001, South China Morning Post, Hostage negotiator to spill dirt in new book, [Yusof Hamdan]
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January 3, 2001, South China Morning Post, Hostage negotiator to spill dirt in new book, [Yusof Hamdan]
AGENCIES in Kuala Lumpur
A Malaysian businessman who helped negotiate the release of hostages held by Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines said yesterday he was writing a book that would "expose the secrets and lies" surrounding the episode.
Yusof Hamdan said he had tape-recordings and documents to prove a "high-ranking Philippine official" and others tried to get a cut of the millions of dollars paid in ransom to the Abu Sayyaf rebels.
Mr Yusof said the separatists, who reportedly received US$15 million (HK$116 million) in ransom for 20 of 21 hostages kidnapped last April from Malaysia's Sipadan diving resort, were initially more interested in highlighting their rebellion than receiving ransom.
"This book will hit out at the real bad guys who manipulated the situation for their own benefit," he said. "It will expose the secrets and lies behind the negotiations. I have voice recordings and written evidence of certain lower-ranking officials and lackeys of some politicians and opportunists, both Filipino and non-Filipino, who did try to get their hands on part of the money the Libyans were ready to pay to the Abu Sayyaf for the release of the hostages."
Mr Yusof was critical of unnamed Malaysians for deliberately prolonging and sabotaging the negotiations. "They literally made it more costly in the end because through their machinations, they managed to jack up the price for the release of the hostages and thus get a bigger cut of the proceeds."
Mr Yusof refused to immediately name the Philippine officials he accused of wrongdoing. He said his book, tentatively entitled The Truth Behind Sipadan, was half-finished and he was in final negotiations with a US publisher.
He denied he was trying to capitalise on widespread interest by writing the book, which he hoped would be ready by March. He did not think it would hurt diplomatic relations between Kuala Lumpur and Manila, which had been strained after months of failure by Philippine negotiators to secure the hostages' freedom.
Initially, the rebels' formal demands were all political - a complicating factor, since Manila had repeatedly ruled out Abu Sayyaf's main goal of an independent Islamic state in the impoverished southern Philippines.
In September, after they had received large ransoms from Libya and Malaysia and released most of the Sipadan hostages, the rebels re-entered Malaysian waters and kidnapped three Malaysian workers from
Pandanan island resort.
These Malaysians were freed by Philippine troops several weeks later after President Joseph Estrada ordered a massive military rescue operation. The last of the Sipadan hostages, Filipino Roland Ulla, is
still in Abu Sayyaf hands, along with American Jeffrey Schilling, a Muslim convert
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