Malaysia National Security: threats, challenges and whelming cross - border crime in the East - Coast of Sabah

Sabah is one of the states in Malaysia, and Eastern Sabah is prone to the proliferation of Non-Traditional Threats (NIT) that cross its border, that would seriously jeopardize notjust the state's security, but also Malaysia's security itself in a larger picture. Such NIT encompass illegal acts like Kidnap-for Ransom (KFR), smuggling and illegal immigrants, which have been ongoing for decades. Hence, this research is aimed at examining the existing NIT issues in Sabah, as well as the enforcement efforts that have been taken to address them. Utilizing a qualitative appr<:>ach, this research has been based on three objectives, each discussed using data findings from various literary sources and interviews with relevant individuals, in the respective chapters. According to the findings, the NIT Sabah proliferates due to various factors, namely its geography, social and even economic setups. It is also found that the NTT that exist in eastern Sabah pose the potential of disrupting not only the state's peace and stability, but will also affect Malaysia in general, be it economically, socially or politically. The study also finds that there have been various enforcement efforts taken by the Malaysian government in containing the NTT in Eastern Sabah. These encompass both security and enforcement efforts. However, there are weaknesses in these efforts, that hinder the full achievement of the objective to contain these threats.