Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III says his next step will be to request help from the UN, the UK and the US.
PETALING JAYA: The self-styled Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III wants the United Nations, the United States and the United Kingdom to intervene in his claim over Sabah, Philippine news website ABS-CBNnews.com reported today.According to the news portal, Jamalul said he had lost faith in the Philippine government’s ability to help the Kiram clan in its claim to the north Borneo State.
Jamalul’s army comprising some 200 men has remained in Kampung Tanduo, 130 km from Lahad Datu, Sabah for three weeks now.
The armed intruders reportedly lost at least 12 men in its skirmishes against the Malaysian police and armed forces last Friday.
Jamalul’s attempts to seize Sabah by force has earned the disapproval of President Benigno Aquino III, who has repeatedly appealed to the sultanate’s army to return home and resolve the territorial dispute in the Philippines.
Similarly, the Malacanang Palace said today it was not disregarding the Kiram family’s claim over Sabah but pointed out there was no reason for the army to stay there.
But instead of heeding the calls for retreat, Jamalul told the news portal today that his next step would be to seek help from the international body and two superpowers.
He said the last time the issue was brought before the UN was in the 1960s, under the term of then President Diasdado Macapagal.
US bound by agreement
In another development, spokesman for the sultanate Abraham Idjirani said it was seeking the assistance of America to intercede by invoking a 1915 agreement signed with then US colonial government in the Philippines
He said that under the Kiram-Carpenter Agreement signed on March 22, 1915, the US had agreed to provide “full protection” to the Sulu Sultan.
He added that under that agreement which was signed by then US-appointed Governor of Mindanao and Sulu province, Frank W Carpenter, with the Sulu Sultan, the latter had relinquished his and his heirs’ right to temporal sovereignty, tax collection and arbitration laws in exchange for an allowance, a piece of land and recognition as religious leader.
He said under the agreement, the US had also agreed to give “full protection to the Sultan of Sulu should the question of Sabah arise in the future between the sultanate and any foreign authority.”
“We will remind them of their moral obligation. That obligation is not to use violent means but to help find a solution,” Idjirani was reported by the Philippines Inquirer.
Idjirani said Malacañang’s “small window of opportunity” to end the standoff was not acceptable because all the government wanted was Agbimuddin’s group pullout from Sabah, without assurance of negotiations involving the sultanate’s claim to Sabah.
Eight Malaysians killed
Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar confirmed that a total of six policemen were killed in an ambush by armed intruders in Kampung Sri Jaya, Simunul, Semporna, Sabah on Saturday.
He said six of the armed intruders were also killed.
Police are investigating whether the group, believed to be less than 10 in number, in Kampung Sri Jaya Simunul are linked to the royal army of the Sultanate.
On Friday, two VAT 69 police commandos, ASP Zulkifli Mamat, 29 and Sergeant Sabarudin Daud, were killed, while three others were injured in a gunfire with the royal army in Kampung Tandou.
12 of the armed Sultan Sulu followers were also killed.
Yesterday, a group of soldiers from the 21st Royal Malay Regiment at the 8th Brigade Camp, Pengkalan Chepa, left for Sabah to boost security forces there, Bernama reported.
Armed forces Chief General Zulkifeli Mohd Zin was reported to have said that two more army battalions would be deployed in several areas in the east coast of Sabah.
14 comments:
UN tidak dapat buat apa-apa lagi dengan tuntutan Jamalul karim III ini.
Ini kerana Jamalul sendiri pun tidak diiktiraf lagi oleh Kerajaan Filipin sebagai sultan sulu di negara itu.
Ini bermakna kuasa untuk Jamalul sememangnya tidak ada lagi untuk menuntut dan tambahan lagi "Permanent Lease" telah dibuat oleh nenek moyang Sultan Sulu sebelum ini.
Kalau benar Sultan Sulu cakap ini hak mereka apa pula kata Sultan Brunei? Bukankah Pulau Borneo ini dahulu kala milik kesultanan Brunei.
Jadi rasanya kalau cerita mengenai tuntutan Kesultanan Brunei lagi berhak melainkan Sulu.
Kehadiran tetamu yang tidak diundang di Sabah ini telah memburukan nama kesultanan Sulu sendiri.
Ini kerana seperti apa yang kita ketahui sendiri Kesultanan Sulu tidak mempunyai apa-apa pun. Sedangkan di Filipin sendiri pun mereka tidak ada negara sendiri.
Mungkin sebab itulah kenapa mereka datang ke Sabah ini. Kunun untuk menuntut Sabah.
Area mana Sabah ini milik sultan Sulu. Tunjukan bukti dan kebenaran. Sedangkan penduduk Suluk di Sabah sendiri tidak menyokongan apa yang dilakukan ini.
Lagi satu kalau kita dengar suara majoriti sekali pun pasti ramai yang menolak kesultanan sulu. Mereka rasa lebih baik tidak ada sultan daripada dibawah kesultanan sulu ini. Sultan sulu yang tidak diiktiraf di filipin.
The Sulu Sultanate cannot turn back the pages of history to reclaim Sabah, said prominent historian Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Khoo Kay Kim.
If such a precedent was to be set, then Singapore should be returned to Johor and Penang to Kedah, he said.
“Their (Sulu Sultanate's) claims are difficult to come to terms with as what has been accepted for such a long time cannot be changed,” he added.
“Even if the matter is taken to the International Court, Malaysia would have a better chance of winning as Sabah had been part of the country for a long time.”
Prof Khoo said that although the state was originally part of Sulu, the British North Borneo Company had taken control of North Borneo, now known as Sabah, in 1882.
Institute of Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore Studies director Prof Kamarulnizam Abdullah said the Sulu Sultanate should honour previous agreements in which they ceded the territory to the colonial powers.
“We have inherited agreements made in the past,” he said, adding that social media users and the Opposition in both Malaysia and the Philippines appeared to be provoking the situation in Sabah.
In JELEBU, Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said that based on international law, Sabah legally belonged to Malaysia and the state and any part of it cannot be claimed by any party.
He cited the Cobbold Commission 1963 findings that the majority of Sabahans agreed for their state to be part of the Federation of Malaysia.
(The commission, headed by former Bank of England governor Lord Cobbold, was also responsible for the drafting of the Federal Constitution prior to the formation of Malaysia).
Speaking to reporters after attending an event with prisoners and narcotics rehabilitation centre inmates, Rais said Sabah's entry into Malaysia was a nation-building move and the state's territory could not be claimed by any party after that.
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