Murder of hostage branded `savage and barbaric’ by PM

Kota Kinabalu: The remaining Malaysian hostage being held by the notorious Abu Sayyaf has been killed in the southern Philippines, it was reliably learnt.

Najib, now in Manila for the 23rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, said he had discussed the incident with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.

Ted Fen was abducted alongside Thien Nyuk Fun, 50, manager of the Ocean King Seafood Restaurant in Sandakan town, Sabah, on May 14 from the town of Sandakan. Thien was freed on November 9 after a ransom of 30 million pesos (around $638,000) was paid, according to an unnamed police source.

“I, the government, and all Malaysians are shocked and sickened by the murder of our countryman Bernard Then and we condemn it in its strongest terms”, Najib wrote on his Facebook page today.

Abu Sayyaf has used kidnap for ransom for years as a way of raising funds to support its insurgency.

He said the family was informed of Bernard’s demise in Jolo, southern Philippines, on Tuesday.

He said this in his Twitter posting following a news report by a foreign media that Then an electrical engineer, was killed by his captors.

It said that a breakdown in negotiations for his release led to the beheading.

There was so far no indication that Then’s killing was related to the Paris attacks.

Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said on Twitter he was waiting for confirmation on the beheading from his Philippine counterparts.

Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf – armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles – has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortions in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.

Even Then’s family was reported to have accepted his death and was quoted saying that they are hopeful of seeing the victim’s remains returned for a proper burial. They are also widely believed to be holding an Italian pizza restaurant owner snatched in October.

If true, this makes him the first Malaysian hostage kidnapped from Sabah’s east coast to have been beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf as well as the first hostage to have lost his life while in captivity. The group later brought their hostages to Sulu and released in batches after payment of ransom.