Sultanate won’t give up fight over Sabah

Sultanate won’t give up fight over Sabah

AS the Muslim community celebrates Eid’l Adha, the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo on Tuesday assured that it will never abandon its territorial claim over Sabah.

Sultanate Spokesman and Secretary-General Abraham Idjirani said that they have no plans of giving up their fight to regain Sabah from the Malaysia  despite the lack of support from the Philippine government.

“The claim of the Sultanate of Sulu over Sabah through the GRP [Government of the Republic of the Philippines] is now abandoned by the Philippine government,” he said.

Because of that, he added, “the Sultanate is compelled to pursue independently the claim, acting on its historic and legal rights over Sabah.”

He said the continued presence of Raja Muda (crown prince) Agbimuddin Kiram to Sabah, along with the 200 fighters of the Royal Security Forces (RSF) only proves their assertion of their sovereign and proprietary rights over the territory.

“The RSF remained in Lahad Datu, maintaining a defensive stand to avoid further clashes with the Malaysian security forces,” Idjirani said.

The sultanate’s presence in Sabah, Idjirani added, also hopes to prove to the international community that Malaysia does not respect international agreements as in the case of the Manila Accord of 1963.

“Malaysia is a mere administrator of Sabah as the issue is still pending resolution in the UN since 1962,” Idjirani said.

He said the RSF fighters  were continuously repositioning in controlled areas to avoid an encounter with the Malaysian forces, which is in compliance with the previous call of the United Nations for sobriety.

On February, Sultan Jamalul Kiram 3rd sent his brother, Raja Muda  to Sabah, along with 200 fighters to revive the sultanate’s long-standing claim over the resource-rich Sabah.

The intrusion prompted the Malaysian military to launch offensive operations to flush out Kiram’s armed followers.

A total of 68 members of the sultanate’s fighters and 10 Malaysian policemen and soldiers were killed in the series of clashes.

According to Idjirani, seven months after the cessation of hostilities, the RSF in Sabah has grown to 1,600 men, backed up by volunteers from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). RITCHIE A. HORARIO

http://manilatimes.net/sultanate-wont-give-up-fight-over-sabah/45036/

MNLF mobilizes Tausug fighters in Malaysia

MANILA, Philippines - The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has activated some 4,000 foreign trained Tausug fighters embedded in Sarawak and Sabah in Malaysia, group spokesman Emmanuel Fontanilla said yesterday.

Fontanilla said the mobilization of the fighters was aimed to protect Tausugs, who he claimed have been the subject of a crackdown by Malaysian authorities.

He said the MNLF fighters were in addition to the Sulu Sultanate Army led by Agbimuddin Kiram, the brother of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, leading the armed struggle to reclaim their ancestral land in Sabah.

MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari had declared Sarawak and Sabah as part of the Bangsa Moro Republik (BMR).

Fontanilla however clarified the MNLF fighters in Malaysia will act only in self-defense against any attack from Malaysian forces.

Fontanilla declined to elaborate how the armed group, called the Bangsa Moro Army in Malaysia, was “activated,” but a source revealed at least five countries are supporting it with arms shipments that had arrived in the disputed territory.

 “Just like what happened in the early ‘70s at the height of Mindanao conflict, Sabah and Sarawak will be the main base of the Bangsa Moro Army,” the source said.

The source said the MNLF in the early ‘70s had set up guerrilla and training camps in Sabah with the consent of the Malaysian government at the time.

The source added huge arms shipments were also sent to MNLF in Mindanao weeks before Misuari declared independence in Talipao, Sulu last Aug. 12.

“MNLF troops are now bearing modern assault weapons coming from foreign supporters,” the source said.

Fontanilla however denied the arms shipment, saying the reports were part of government propaganda.

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/09/09/1188941/mnlf-mobilizes-tausug-fighters-malaysia

Philippine claim to Sabah and Philippine law

Old Sultanate of Sulu flag

There is still a very poor understanding of what the Philippine Sabah claim is all about, it seems, even in the so-called educated class. I've just read comments in a thread somewhere spewed by someone who can recite some Wiki entry but still misses the point.

For instance, a well-known columnist for a Philippine broadsheet commented in a post by another columnist for another Philippine broadsheet the following:

(I will not name the said columnist to avoid embarassing him) "Sultanate might own it but that doesn't make it Philippine territory. No different from land owned by a Filipino family in Long Island - that's not Philippine territory. Do we send our troops to die for that?"

The comment of this columnist showed his total ignorance of where the Philippines is at in terms of the nation's Sabah claim. I was forced to butt in the conversation and told him about the law -- he did not comment any further because he was wrong: Sabah is, by Philippine law, a Philippine territory.

You see, Republic Acts 5522 and 5446 signed and passed in 1968 specify, stipulate that PH has acquired title and dominion over Sabah, hence, by law, it is PH territory albeit disputed and under de facto control of Malaysia. The law has not been abrogated, i.e., the RAs have not been repealed. So, even from a purely Philippine legal standpoint, Ph has the right to prosecute the claim. Sultanate or not, PH has contractual obligations to do it on behalf of the Republic. PH obligations were contracted based on the transfer of full sovereignty rights over Sabah by then Sultan Esmail Kiram 1 on 12 Sept 1962 which the Republic accepted through the government of President Diosdado Macapagal.

Now, in my view, the Republic is duty bound to raise the claim and to help in the recognition of the Sultanate of Sulu royal heirs (sultanate of Sulu contrary to some claim is not extinct) as proprietary right holders. It is actually as simple as that. Also, it is my conviction that the Philippine government cannot simply drop or relinquish the claim without violating the law that is if the law has not been repealed, which I am sure has not [been repealed]. It is as simple as that, sultanate or no sultanate.

~~ Admin AdB
for the Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims
02 March 2013 or the 2nd Day of Infamy for the Republic's betrayal of the Suluks in Sabah

Why did Malaysia lie so brazenly about the 'verbal understanding' with President Diosdado Macapagal about elevating the Sabah case to the International Court of Justice?

Senator Jovito Salonga (standing) seen talking to the President and Founder of the University of Cagayan Valley who also happens to be the grandfather of one of the Admins and creators of the Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims Community.

Senator Jovito Salonga, in the introduction of his 30 March 1963 point-by-point reply to Senator Sumulong's attack on the validity of the Philippine Sabah claim, wrote a year later:

"It was agreed that the Sabah claim would be settled by peaceful means, but the "verbal understanding" between the Tungku and Macapagal regarding the elevation of the case to the International Court of Justice, was denied later by Malaysia." 

Why did Malaysia lie so brazenly about the 'verbal understanding' with President Diosdado Macapagal about elevating the Sabah case to the International Court of Justice?

TO READ Senator Salonga's "A Point-by-Point Reply to Senator Sumulong's Speech on the Philippines' North Borneo (Sabah) Claim", click on this link here: Jovito R Salonga Journal

Sabah and Article I of the 1987 Philippine Constitution

ARTICLE 1 OF THE 1987 CONSTITUTION 
(Under President Cory Aquino) 

ARTICLE I- NATIONAL TERRITORY
•The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains, including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and other submarine areas.

"all other territtories over which the Philippines has sovereignty" = MEANS THAT SABAH IS PART OF THE PHILIPPINES BECAUSE SOVEREIGNTY RIGHTS OVER SABAH WERE OFFICIALLY TRANSFERRED (signed and sealed) TO THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES BY THE SULTANATE OF SULU ON 12 SEPT 1962 DURING THE TERM OF PRESIDENT DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL LONG BEFORE THE 1987 CONSTITUTION WAS PROMULGATED. HENCE, SABAH HAS NOT BEEN EXCLUDED AT ALL FROM THE SCOPE OF PHIL NATIONAL TERRITORY UNDER THE 1987 CONSTIUTION CONTRARY TO WHAT SOME BELIEVE.

~~ Administrators, Philippine Sabah Claim Forum

~~ Administrators, Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims