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

Sulu ‘volunteers’ plan Sabah incursions

Sulu ‘volunteers’ plan Sabah incursions

The Sulu Sultanate on Sunday  said  it is sending more “volunteer” fighters to Sabah from Mindanao to reassert its territorial claim over it and to protect the Filipinos there who are being rounded up by Malaysian police.

Abraham Idjirani, spokesman of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, said groups of Bangsa Suluk volunteers were preparing to sail to Sabah and join the 1,600-strong Royal Security Forces of the sultanate led by Kiram’s brother, Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram.

“They will be going to Sabah because of the un-Islamic rounding up of innocent civilians by the Malaysian security forces,” Idjirani said from Kiram’s residence in Taguig City.

“They feel it is their patriotic duty to protect their countrymen there and to show the world that Sabah is their homeland.”

Asked how many fighters were sailing to Sabah, Idjirani said they had no idea yet but the fighters would be going there quietly in waves or groups to elude the Malaysian and Philippine naval cordons.

Once in Sabah, they would be consolidating forces and communicating with Agbimuddin, who remains in Sabah since sailing there with 200 men in February.

“They are now driven by their belief that Malaysia does not own Sabah,” Idjirani said.

He said the volunteers would come from Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and Zamboanga.

“Our leaders told us that these Bangsa Suluks have been itching to go to Sabah because they are angry over the Malaysians’ treatment of the Filipino residents of Sabah,” Idjirani said.

He said  some of the Sabah-bound volunteers would be armed, with many of them experienced in battle, although they would not be going to Sabah to wage war.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/07/29/sulu-volunteers-plan-sabah-incursions/

Datu Agbimuddin, younger brother of Royal Datu Jamalul III and Royal Datu Esmail II, has indeed launched an 'invasion of Sabah'

ON 'BREAKING NEWS' yesterday 14 February: "MALAYSIA IN BORNEO STANDOFF WITH ARMED INTRUDERS" as reported by The Philippine Daily Inquirer:

NB: ALSO, PLEASE SEE OFFICIAL STATEMENT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST FROM HM SULTAN MUEDZUL KIRAM, 35th and currently reigning Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo. (For information, Sultan Muedzul is busy overseeing a construction project in Sulu as we post this.)

MEANWHILE, AS SOON AS WE GOT WIND OF THE NEWS HERE AT DEFENDERS, WE IMMEDIATELY INQUIRED INQUIRED WITH THE SULTANATE OF SULU AND HAVE RECEIVED CONFIRMATION THAT A GROUP HEADED BY SOMEONE CLAIMING TO BE DESCENDANT OF THE SULTAN OF SULU HAS INDEED 'INVADED SABAH.'

We also have received confirmation that the leader of the group is Datu Agbimuddin, younger brother of Royal Datu Jamalul III and Royal Datu Esmail II. The group entered Sabah with Royal Armed Forces elements. Datu Agbimuddin who is also known as 'Puing' by his relatives and close friends, was accompanied by 200 members of his security group but 50 of them had been captured by a Malaysian Navy boat. The rest of the group is now surrounded by Malaysian commando. The confirmation report from the Sultanate of Sulu expressed deep concern for Datu Agbimuddin's followers.

THE FOLLOWING OFFICIAL STATEMENT HAS BEEN ISSUED BY THE ROYAL HOUSE OF SULU TODAY, Friday, 15 February 2013:

"Ampun Muedzul-Lail Tan Kiram, 35th Sultan of Sulu, son of Ampun Moh. Mahakuttah A. Kiram (last recognised Sultan of Sulu by Philippine government under Presidential Memorandum Order 427 issued in 1974 by President of Philippines H.E. Ferdinand Marcos), 34th Sultan of Sulu and grandson of Ampun Esmail E. Kiram, 33rd Sultan of Sulu, is aware that early morning of Tuesday, about 100-200 people, some of them armed men and a handful of women, boarded speedboats on Simunul Island in Tawi-Tawi, Philippines and left for Lahad Datu, a coastal area in Sabah in northern Borneo.  

"These men and women were leaded by Datu Ajbimuddin Kiram, who is younger brother of one of the self-styled Sultans of Sulu. Currently there are up to 60 people who claim to be Sultans of Sulu. This incident has nothing to do with the Royal Court neither with legitimate Sultan of Sulu. Ampun Muedzul-Lail Tan Kiram, 35th Sultan of Sulu, who lives in Jolo, Sulu is a peaceful man who is working close by with Philippine marines to maintain peaceful and safe environment in Sulu archipelago." 

~~ Admins, Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims

Link to Sultan Muedzul Kiram wall on Facebook, link here

NB: We are monitoring this "stand off" and will share whatever info we receive. Thank you.

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON DEFENDERS OF PHILIPPINE SABAH & SPRATLY CLAIMS community wall