Cross border attacks in Sabah

Security in mainland Sabah was under control, cross border attacks ongoing;

• Operation Merdeka to invade Sabah under the instruction of Ferdinand Marcos failed to carry out and the starting of insurgency in the Southern Philippines after Marcos soldiers execute a numbers of Moro fighters in an event known as Jabidah massacre.
• Nur Misuari deported to the Philippines in 2001 under the ASEAN friendship after Malaysian security forces found he had stayed illegally on an island in Sabah to escape from the Philippine authorities after a failed rebellion against the Philippine Government.
• Establishment of RCI in 2012 when Sabah was infiltrated with a huge numbers of illegal immigrants from the Philippines who escape from the war torn Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.
• Deportation of thousands of Filipino illegal immigrants in Sabah after they were found collaborating with militants during a brief of standoff with a self-proclaimed Filipino Sultan Jamalul Kiram III followers in 2013.
• Establishment of ESSCOM and ESSZONE in 2013 to counter further Filipino militant infiltrations and to prevent the mass exodus of Filipino illegal immigrants into Sabah.
• Sabah ceases its cross-border trade and barter trade in eastern waters from 7 April 2016–1 February 2017 due to persistent Abu Sayyaf attacks.
• The governments of Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia have signed an agreement to jointly countering the persistent lawlessness in the Sulu Archipelago.