A Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) delegate said the government’s mourning ceremony for the MH17 victims was excessive and overly done, as compared to the ones carried out for policemen and soldiers who were killed during the Lahad Datu intrusion.

The delegate from Perak, Mohamad Imran Abdul Hamid who is also the Lumut member of Parliament also called the Lahad Datu intrusion as a ‘drama’, planned by certain quarters.

"When we look at it, our soldiers were buried in a simpler manner which is totally different from the ceremony for the victims of MH17 which were well planned,” he said at the party’s national congress at Stadium Malawati today.

He said those who died in line of duty in Lahad Datu were buried like slaves.

“It is not that we should not (ceremony for Mh17 victims) but we see that as an overly done ceremony by the government,” he added.

In March 2013, Lahad Datu was invaded by Sulu terrorists, ‘reclaiming’ part of Borneo as their ancestral land.

In the confrontation between the armed forces and the terrorists, two soldiers were killed in Lahad Datu while six more were killed in Semporna.

Mohamad Imran had also called on the government to explain its 'excessiveness' in the mourning ceremony for the MH17 victim.

“Its not that we are not saddened by their deaths but we want to know why ouor fighters in Lahad Datu were not accorded such ceremonies? This is what the government should explain,” he added.

He said the timing of the Lahad Datu intrusion, which was three months before the 13th general election, also raised question.

“The attacks in Sabah has been happening since 1986, 1991, 1990 but there were not civil action taken by the government,” he said.

“But in 2003, three months before the general election, Lahad Datu intrusion happens and shoot-outs were carried out. I would say Lahad Datu is a drama,” he added.

In May last year, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the authorities had obtained all relevant documents and information on the involvement of three Opposition leaders who are believed to have masterminded the attacks.