The Catholic priest in Sabah who was at the forefront of an independent Sabah

Historiana: The Catholic priest* in Sabah who was at the forefront of an independent Sabah 

In 1990, Benjamin Basintal (in picture), a Catholic priest led a 'revolution' from within Sabah. 

Basintal was linked to a Sabah secession plot in 1990. He went missing during that year detained under Kuala Lumpur's dreaded Internal Security Act (ISA) and possibly tortured. He had been hounded and harassed continuously by Kuala Lumpur agents. The loss of Barisan Nasional in the 1990 election and the victory of Christian-dominated PBS, the Sabah political party much hated by Mahathir, was attributed to his disappearance.

Benjamin Basintal was not your typical Catholic missionary priest. He was vocal about denouncing the inequities in Sabah, the corruption of its politicians and the greed and injustice of Kuala Lumpur.

According to his relatives, Benjamin saw Sabah "with its abundant natural resources on one side and many of its people abjectly poor on the other side was a gapping wound. The state’s wealth that could help lift them out of the poverty trap was instead paying for vanity projects elsewhere in Malaysia and this was an affront to him."

Basintal left for the United States soon after his release by Kuala Lumpur's ISA. How he got to leave Sabah remains a mystery. He studied journalism and went into teaching when he returned to Sabah.

Benjamin Basintal died of organ failure last month, a few weeks away from the Sabah elections.

*NB: What most Filipinos don't know is that Sabah used to be predominantly Christian until Mahathir imported Muslim would-be voters from Indonesia and the Philippines, a project he hatched from the time he came to power in 1981 and executed for a number of years until he retired from politics in 2003. Mahathir exported Bumiputra Malayans from Peninsular Malaysia with wads of cash (I kid thee not) and promises of a good life for them if they stayed and lived in Sabah, and of course, they had to vote Barisan Nasional or BN (Mahathir's party and Najib's party today.) Sabah had to be "de-Christianised" so to speak.

Mahathir was still flooding Sabah with Bumiputras from Peninsular Malaysia while I was living in Kuala Lumpur in the 90s. I also remember too well the stories surrounding the trial of the owner and publisher of the Borneo Mail which first bannered the disappearance of Basintal. Borneo Mail's owner was charged and tried under the Printing Presses and Publications Act a charge which still carries today, a penalty of three years jail or a fine of 20,000 Malaysian ringgits or both.

~~ By Anne de Bretagne
for the Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims 
30 April 2013

To read about Benjamin Basintal:  The Incident that changed Sabah 

Link to Benjamin Basintal blog www.mrbensblog-antidot.blogspot.com

Malaysia explicitly accepts that Sabah is leased from the Sultanate

Even Malaysia knows and accepts that Sabah is leased. They cannot deny it. In fact, Malaysia is still paying rent to the Sultanate heirs.

Picture of history of Sabah displayed in Malaysia museum.

Malaysia must honour Manila Accord of 1963 or be forever damned

Signing of Manila Accord 1963, on 31st July 1963 in Manila
before the creation of the MALAYSIA Federation
Signatories were President Suharto of Indonesia, President Macapagal of the Philippines
and Tunku Abdul Rahman of  then Malaya Federation

The signing of the 1963 Manila Accord, registered with the United Nations as treaty number 8029, whereby then Malaya Federation Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman agreed that the Philippine Sabah claim would not be extinguished by the then to-be-created Malaysia Federation which was to be created later on or on 16th September 1963.  

Paragraph 12 of the 1963 Manila Accord which was approved and signned by the three signatories stipulates:


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 Declara 
tion.

BUT Malaysia now refuses to honour Manila Accord and has changed its national doctrine: "Better to lose national honour than to lose Sabah."

In a way, we understand why they now renege on the agreement. Malaysia has never really understood the meaning of 'national honour' since they have never ever had to fight for it. The Brits, the Aussies, the Indians, the Chinese, the Gurkhas have always had to do the fighting to save Malaya's so-caled 'national honour'.

Be that it may, it behooves the Government of the Republic led by no less than the benighted President NoyNoy Aquino to whip up this agreement and pressure Malaysia to honour it. Aquino has got everything in hand to win the case and so we are surprised why he is hell bent on wanting to lose it. But what is stopping him from doing it? Big question mark indeed!

~~ AdB
For the Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims
15 April 2013

Related blog post: United Nations Treaties No. 8029, Manila Accord of 1963

Link to original treaty: UN Treaty 8029 Manila Accord 1963

Recommended read: Malaysian writer's Sabah solution: Re-visit the Manila Accord

Who will be the next Hadji Kamlon, Tausug warrior-leader, to lead the battle in Sabah?

HISTORIANA: The story of Tausug warrior Hadji Kamlon

Hadji Kamlon was a Moro and former WW2 guerilla hero who fought the Japanese and who, from 1948 to 1955, led a rebellion against the national government. 

He was considered by the Philippine military as the biggest threat to national security and a bandit to be feared but to the Tausugs, Kamlon was a folk hero, a local Robin Hood. He gathered a band armed with WW II rifles and pieces of the BAR (Browing Automatic Rifle) that could fire 20 bullets in one burst. 

Even with their heavy army tanks which rolled into the heart of the city daily, the military was still outdone by Kamlon, who had the support of the local population.
The exact cause for Kamlon’s rebellion had not been established but economic factors had been frequently blamed although conflict among local leaders contributed to it. 

For almost 4 years the government engaged Kamlon and, during the final assault, 5,000 ground troops were utilized along with naval, air and mortar supports. Logistical expenditures, after the final inventory, amounted to P 185 million. Despite all this cost, Kamlon could not be routed or captured. He finally gave up conditionally due to advancing age.

Elusive Bandit or Local Robin Hood?
Sulu Sea was said to be terrorized by a band of pirates headed by notorious “bandit leader” Kamlon who carried his piratical forays with his men up to Borneo where he attacked merchant vessels fleecing the ship and its passengers of their belongings. 

The “bandit chieftain” eluded arrest for more than three years almost upsetting the military budget hunting him down in the vastly scattered islands of the Sulu Archipelago. He was feared for his ability to disappear like a mist before the soldiers very eyes. Kamlon used both talisman (anting-anting) and automatic rifle to confront the old Philippine Constabulary (PC), AFP battalion, and the Air Force. His hidden island and jungle fortresses were legendary.

To the inhabitants of Sulu, Kamlon was loved and revered. He considered a local Robin Hood who looted from the rich and gave it to the poor. Like the mythical Robin Hood, the poor islanders who felt neglected by the national government saw Kamlon as their savior.

Even when the military intensified its campaign appealing to the island inhabitants to help government in the capture of Kamlon, the Moro villagers were tight lipped and uncooperative. No amount of huge prizes and rewards offered to those who could lead to the capture of the elusive bandit leader even by just identifying him could convince the natives to cooperate. The only answer the troopers could get in their query was “diih” that means “no” or “bukon” meaning “not him or not the one in the picture.”

Magsaysay and Kamlon
An article published in Time Magazine in August 11, 1952 entitled The Philippines: Peace Under the Palms, relates the meeting of Philippines Defense Secretary Ramon Magsaysay and the infamous Kamlon. Magsaysay was said to have a secret meeting with one of the toughest Moros of all—clever, poker-faced Bandit Leader Kamlon. Kamlon, leader of the most formidable of the scores of Moro bands that terrorize Jolo, finally sent feelers to imperial Manila with this message: He wanted fair treatment for his "people" and his family. He did not ask for financial rewards. If granted verbally, he would surrender.

First came a small boat from ashore with tokens of Kamlon's sincerity—baskets of fruit, to show friendship, and Kamlon's six-year-old son, to inspire confidence. Next came Bandit Kamlon himself, insistent on the pageantry for which the Filipino Mohammedans have always had a weakness, to request a formal surrender ceremony beneath the palms of Lahing-Lahing beach.

Some 200 of Kamlon's followers were already there, revolvers and rifles much in evidence and their sashed waists sagging with an assortment of bolos, barongs, krises and daggers.Their youngsters darted happily across the sand with knives at their sides, and their womenfolk stood near in the holiday splendor of pink, yellow, and apple-green clothes. Among them was Kamlon's faithful wife —some of the Moro leaders have as many as 80, but he is content with one. Kamlon, a peaceful farmer who had become something of a hero for killing Japanese during World War II, turned to banditry as a postwar vocation.

Solemnly chewing betel nut, he walked to Magsaysay, handed over his two pistols and a symbolic stack of 24 firearms, including BARs, carbines and old Japanese guns. 

In smooth tau-sog, Kamlon pledged the help of his band of 300 in Magsaysay's new campaign to quell the Moros, who are second only to the Communist Huks in defiance of Manila's rule. In English, Magsaysay praised Kamlon's guerrilla fight against the Japanese and promised him possible clemency, even offered to help Kamlon make the pilgrimage to Mecca. 

Then came the feast—mountains of eggs, crabs, shellfish, washed down with beer, and a skittish sip of the strange brown beverage (Coca-Cola) brought for the occasion by Magsaysay.

Magsaysay asked Kamlon to surrender, stand trial and serve time in prison. He also granted the few conditions Kamlon had asked. Kamlon was tried and stayed a few months in prison before pardon was granted by Magsaysay. 

In Manila, the news media called him a little bandit who terrorized Sulu islands for years. But Magsaysay viewed the situation differently, and without the advice of the so-called experts in geopolitics. Magsaysays promise to Kamlon was not "notarized" and did not resemble an executive agreement or treaty.

Magsaysay and Kamlon became friends. They also lived by their words. For years there was peace in the whole of Sulu archipelago that included Tawi-tawi, that was not a separate province in Kamlon's time.

~~ Posted by Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims
13 April 2013


Source: Wiki Philippines

TIME ARTICLE:
The Philippines: Peace Under the Palms. Aug. 11, 1952 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,857310,00.html