FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — No wonder Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is jittery about his handling of the invasion of Lahad Datu. Part of the reason for Najib’s woeful delay in responding to the Suluk threat was because the Prime Minister’s Department (PMD) was responsible for monitoring the waters off Sabah’s east coast.

Did the PMD underestimate the severity of the Suluk threat? Did Najib hope the problem would go away, if he ignored it? We wrongly believed that the navy and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) were responsible for maritime surveillance and law enforcement.

Read more from Mariam Mokter in Free Malaysia Today.