KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — National police chief Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar today refuted claims eight policemen were sleeping on the job and ignored desperate phone calls alerting them to a terrorist attack on Sabah’s Pom-Pom island that claimed the life of a Taiwanese tourist and resulted in the kidnap of the man’s 58-year-old wife.

The Inspector-General of Police also said Bukit Aman is working closely with the Philippines authorities to rescue Chang An Wei, also a Taiwanese, from a terrorist group based in the archipelago’s south, but refused to specify if it was the notorious Abu Sayyaf group.

“They got the wrong information,” Khalid told a news conference at federal police headquarters here, when asked to confirm a Taiwanese news report claiming that eight policemen on Pom-Pom island were asleep and did not answer phone calls during the Friday incident.

“They were informed by people who did not know what had happened. It’s not true,” he added.

CTI TV reported yesterday that a security guard’s calls to police officers went unanswered during the murder-cum-abduction by gunmen at the popular dive destination in Semporna, but the Taiwanese news channel did not quote any names.

When asked if a ransom has been demanded, Khalid refused to comment, saying: “Don’t talk about the victim”.

“For the safety of the victim, stop writing about the victim,” he added.

Khalid berated English-language daily The Star for reporting today that 58-year-old Chang was a schoolmate of the Taiwan President’s wife, Chow Mei-ching, and that Chang and her husband are wealthy.

“Are you trying to tell the terrorists to demand some more?” he asked.

Khalid also said that the police would brief Chang’s family when they arrive in Sabah.

He added that the police were currently talking to resort operators at Pom-Pom island, who had reportedly been hostile to the police patrolling the island before the incident.

“Some operators think our presence there will frighten away tourists. That’s not true. Sometimes, these operators need to be educated,” he said.

It is believed that Chang is still alive and was brought by the gunmen to one of the islands on Tawi-Tawi, off the coast of southern Philippines.

Citing local police sources, The Star Online reported yesterday that in a typical abduction case, hostages from Sabah are usually kept in a jungle hideout before they are moved to the Abu Sayyaf stronghold in Jolo island.

The ransom demand of the Islamist militant group, which is linked to Al-Qaeda, would only come later once the hostage is in a more secure hideout.

Unidentified gunmen stormed the usually serene Pom-Pom Island Resort off Sabah’s eastern coast at about 1am on Friday, raiding five water villas, killing Taiwanese tourist Hsu Lim Min, 57, and abducting Chang.

The resort, which is accessible by a 45-minute boat ride from Semporna in Sabah and just a 30-minute ride from the Philippines’ Tawi-Tawi islands, is located under a kilometre away from a General Operations Force (GOF) base.

The GOF base was among the others set up under Esscom, which covers the 1,400km coastline from Kudat to Tawau, following the incursion of Sulu militants from southern Philippines into Lahad Datu in February.

Sabah’s opposition lawmakers said last Saturday that the incident proved the failure of Putrajaya’s security measures at the Sabah border.

In 2000, Abu Sayyaf gunmen kidnapped 21 people, including 10 foreign tourists, at Sipadan Island off Sabah, but released them six months later.