(6 Mar 2013) SHOTLIST
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Wide of hundreds of Filipino Muslims holding torches calling for peaceful resolution to conflict in Sabah
2. Various of peace rally participants marching with torches
3. Rally participants chanting: (English) "Peace in Sabah, now, now"
4. SOUNDBITE: (Tagalog) Yasser Pangandaman, Rally organiser:
"The two parties (Kiram and Malaysia) should swallow their pride and study the situation. It is not easy to accept their reason for continuing the conflict there because there have already been fatalities, so do we have to wait for more blood to be spilt? We all know from decades of war that no-one wins, everyone loses."
5. Mid of people marching with torches
6. Close of Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo seal on Jamalul Kiram III's residence, zoom out to participants of peace rally
7. Wide of rally
STORYLINE:
Hundreds of Filipino Muslims held a torch-lit rally on Wednesday to call for a peaceful end to the conflict in Sabah, Malaysia.
Earlier on Wednesday, Malaysian security forces battled a group of Filipino intruders in the rugged terrain of Borneo after they escaped a military assault with fighter jets and mortar fire on their hideout, police in Malaysia said.
One Filipino was shot and believed killed.
It was not clear if any of the intruders suffered any casualties in Tuesday's assault before they melted away into the jungles, chased by hundreds of Malaysian security forces.
Previous clashes between the two sides have left 19 intruders and eight policemen dead.
Protesters in the Philippine capital, Manila, called for an end to all violence.
"The two parties should swallow their pride and study the situation," said rally organiser Yasser Pangandaman.
"We all know from decades of war that no-one wins, everyone loses."
The bizarre security crisis involves some 200 armed members of a Philippine Muslim clan, which claims to have a royal ancestral right over Malaysia's resource-rich eastern state of Sabah.
They arrived with little fanfare from southern Philippines, a short boat ride away, three weeks ago and occupied a remote part of Sabah after scaring away the villagers.
Ignoring appeals by the Malaysian government as well as Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, the intruders have refused to leave to highlight their claim.
The crisis has caught both countries by surprise.
Few in Malaysia or the Philippines even know about the Filipino group led by Jamalul Kiram III, who claims to be the sultan, or the hereditary ruler, of the southern, predominantly Muslim province of Sulu in the Philippines.
Sabah and Sulu are separated by a narrow strip of the Sulu Sea that at its shortest span can be traversed by boat in 30 minutes.
The two provinces have shared traditional ties and people, who are of the same ethnic stock, frequently travel back and forth.
Some 800-thousand Filipinos, mostly Muslims, have settled in Sabah over the years to seek work and stability.
Although tensions between the two communities are not uncommon, it is feared that the Kiram's claims and the violence over the past week will sour relations further and could lead to retaliation against the long-staying Filipino settlers.
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