"To honour the 1963 Manila Accord, which is United Nations Treaty 8029, is key to the legal resolution of the North Borneo/Sabah impasse. Kuala Lumpur must and should accept that a United Nations treaty is not something that Malaysia should scoff at. Ask yourselves this: "What good are bona-fide/international treaties if after signing them, the signatory countries refuse to recognise them and instead, discard them like toilet paper?" Honouring the 1963 Manila Accord is the key to avoid war over North Borneo."
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| Picture of the signing of the Manila Accord - UN Treaty 8029 on 31 July 1963 by (from left) President Soekarno of Indonesia, President Macapagal of the Philippines and Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman of Malaya Federation (precursor to Malaysia Federation |
By Anne de Bretagne
For the Sabah Claim Society
the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum
and the Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims
17 June 2013
THE ONLY LEGAL SOLUTION TO THE SABAH QUESTION IS TO HONOUR THE MANILA ACCORD. How? By pressuring Kuala Lumpur to negotiate with the Philippines. However, there is no way in hell that it can happen if President Aquino has put it in his head not to face the question head on or even just to raise - even with a gentle whisper - the 1963 Manila Accord with his great friend in Kuala Lumpur, the not-so-smart (but one who has outsmarted our benighted leader Noynoy at every turn), the one and only corrupt, the greedy Bumiputra Affirmative Action-BN leader, ta da da... Najib Razak, the son of the man who initiated the troubles in Mindanao and caused the Philippines to lose many of its sons and daughters in what was then called the Mindanao Secession Wars of the 70s...
In that UN Treaty - 8029 also known as the Manila Accord, signed on 31 July 1963 by President Macapagal of the Philippines, by future Malaysia Federation Prime Minister (then Malaya Federation) Tunku Abdul Rahman and by President Soekarno of Indonesia, Kuala Lumpur recogonises the validity of the Philippine claim to Sabah and accepts for the Philippine claim to be pursued. NO QUESTION ABOUT THIS!
One wonders why and how can Kuala Lumpur outwit us at every turn? Most of the 20 million Malayans (or Peninsular Malaysians as they are now popularly known) are not that smart, in fact, they are rather stupid, are terribly bone idle, but truly, one wonders how on earth they manage to outwit and outsmart 100 million Filipinos, many of whom boast of a certain degree of sophistication be it in education or in general culture!
The other solution is for Sabah to withdraw from the UK-engineered Malaysia Federation. There seems to be a trend towards this today but will all of Sabah agree? Not sure - Sabahans are just like Filipinos, they are easily conned by nice words, by good bribes and fight each other most of the time. They are rather laid back (understatement) so will take a bit of push from somewhere.
The ultimate solution, one might say, is war. But according to our benighted leader, that's out of the question and we agree with him. We not only do not have the material capability to go to war with Kuala Lumpur, it is also almost a certainty that most of our people will be anti such move. We have seen how PH reacted to the 'excursion' headed by SJKIII's brother - many of our politicians and their supporters almost peed in their pants when the Lahad Datu stand off happened... So let's say, that war is not an option.
If only we didn't have Sulu's Kiram 'intramurals' (the Kiram family bickering, the infighting, the 'faking' or the usurping of the title of sultan of Sulu by Kiram cousins, uncles, brothers, etc, etc, etc, with the help of fake or self-appointed "princes" to confuse the issue) which Malaysia is using to its great advantage, perhaps, things would be slightly different. The claim is further buried in the depth of the Sulu Sea day in, day out, by an extraordinarily weak and inept PH president, to say the least. Alas! The saying that "united we stand divided we fall' is, as always, true.
*Now, here's Section 12 of the 1963 Manila Accord which we can not and should not poo-pooh...
"12. The Philippines made it clear that its position on the inclusion of North Borneo in the Federation of Malaysia is subject to the final outcome of the Philippine claim to North Borneo. The Ministers took note of the Philippine claim and the right of the Philippines to continue to pursue it in accordance with international law and the principle of the pacific settlement of disputes. They agreed that the inclusion of North Borneo in the Federation of Malaysia would not prejudice either the claim or any right thereunder. Moreover, in the context of their close association, the three countries agreed to exert their best endeavours to bring the claim to a just and expeditious solution by peaceful means, such as negotiation, conciliation, arbitration, or judicial settlement as well as other peaceful means of the parties' own choice, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and the Bandung Declaration."To honour the 1963 Manila Accord, which is United Nations Treaty 8029, is key to the legal resolution of the North Borneo/Sabah impasse. Kuala Lumpur must and should accept that a United Nations treaty is not something that Malaysia should scoff at. Ask yourselves this: What good are bona-fide UN international treaties if, after signing them, the signatory countries refuse to recognise them and instead, discard them like toilet paper? Honouring the 1963 Manila Accord is the key to avoid war over North Borneo. Kuala Lumpur must abide by the treaty.
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Related blog post: Signing of the Manila Accord of 1963
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