1963 MANILA ACCCORD: KEY TO AVOID WAR OVER NORTH BORNEO

"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."

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 

 

ON 31st JULY 2013 IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MANILA ACCORD*

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...

Section 12 of the Manila Accord - UN TREATY 8029, signed by three heads of states before the creation of the Malaysia Federation namely, Soekarno of Indonesia, Rahman of Malaya and Macapagal of the Philippines, stipulates the following (highlight ours):

"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.


~~~~O~~~~


Related blog post: Signing of the Manila Accord of 1963

Other links: 

• Post colonial history: British North Borneo/Sabah and the 1963 Manila Accord
• UN Treaties 

YES TO PEACE, NO TO BBL MANIFESTO

Former DILG chief with some members of FORMA

On Sunday, 24th May, beginning at 8 AM, Rafael Alunan III, former Interior and Local Govenment secretary will be leading a prayer rally at the Luneta Park in Manila under the banner of 'Yes to Peace, No to BBL.'  As the country faces grave threats to its sovereignty, Rafael Alunan III, one of the major state actors who helped paved the way for the PH government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to reach a peace deal in 1996, has emerged as the strongest champion of national cohesion and is widely recognised today as the most fearless advocate for maintaining the country's territorial integrity. ~~ Blog Administrator

MANIFESTO
By Rafael M. Alunan III
22 May 2015
 
MAY 24 YES TO PEACE, NO TO THE BBL PRAYER RALLY 8 A.M. SUNDAY AT THE LUNETA PARK
YES TO PEACE. NO TO THE BANGSAMORO BASIC LAW!  
Retain and Strengthen the ARMM and Local Autonomy.

Today, we find our nation in peril and our democratic way of life under threat, both externally and from within. All too often, the common good and national interests are sacrificed on the altar of political expediency, corruption and self-serving hidden agendas.

Nowhere is this disconnect from reality more pronounced than on the issue of the “peace process” undertaken exclusively with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that produced the Comprehensive Agreement on BangsaMoro (CAB), and the BangsaMoro Basic Law (BBL), a proposed bill that seeks to replace R.A. 6734 that created the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

We believe that a significant majority in Mindanao, and around the country, opposes the CAB-BBL because the process was not transparent, inclusive and thoroughly consultative, not unlike the MOA-AD that the CAB mirrors, which the Supreme Court struck down during the term of former president Gloria Arroyo.

Yet, government has chosen to ignore the people’s dire warnings so far to change course in order to achieve real peace. It continues to press for its passage not later than June 2015. The Aquino administration is subsequently violating the Tripoli Agreement and dismissing the 1996 peace agreement between the government and the MNLF.

We are a group of Filipino citizens from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao that oppose the BBL for the following reasons:

1. MALAYSIA: The choice of Malaysia as third party mediator was ludicrous because it is conflicted. Malaysia opposes our Sabah claim and has persistently undermined our nation's stability as a state that funded, organized and trained secessionist groups – originally the MNLF and, subsequently, the MILF.

2. BASIC LAW: The nomenclature BangsaMoro Basic Law (BBL) is in itself, a thinly veiled attempt at usurping the constitution. "Basic Law" connotes a constitution of a state, in this case, the BangsaMoro, to which all laws must conform.

3. BANGSAMORO TERRITORY: Sec 2 to 5, Art III of the BBL defines the BangsaMoro Territory and suggests a separate territorial enclave within sovereign Philippine territory. It aims to give a homeland to a group that does not represent the hopes and aspirations of excluded sectors and infested with Islamist radicals connected to the global jihadist movement under a caliphate.

4. SELF-GOVERNANCE AND RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION: Sec 1 Art IV speaks of self-governance. Later on, the “RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION" was inserted showing manifest bad faith on the part of the MILF. The intent cannot be mistaken for anything but a prelude to a subsequent declaration of independence or secession.

5. A PARLIAMENTARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Sec 2 Art IV of the BBL prescribes a parliamentary form of government that contravenes Section 1 Art 2 and Sec 1 Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, which mandate a Republican and Presidential form of government.

6. BANGSAMORO POLICE AND BANGSAMORO COMMAND: Sec 2 Art XI creates a BangsaMoro Police, while Sec 15 Art XI establishes a BangsaMoro Command both of which will nominally be part of the PNP and AFP. Their creation constitutes a duplication of sovereign prerogatives, violating Section 3 Article II and Section 6 Article XVI of the 1987 Constitution, which recognize the AFP as the sole bearer of military arms and the PNP as the sole security apparatus of the state, respectively.

7. BANGSAMORO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES: The provisions creating a Civil Service (Sec 2 par. 1.8 Art. V); a Police Board equivalent to the NAPOLCOM (Sec 5 Art XI); a Commission on Human Rights (Sec 7 Art IX); a Public Attorney’s Office and Prosecution Service (Sec 18-19 Art X); a Commission on Audit (Sec 2 Art XII); a Tax Office (Sec.11 Art XII), and a Sharia Judicial and Bar Council (Sec 10 Art 10X), can only be viewed as a clear usurpation and duplication of sovereign functions and powers.

8. WALI: Sec 1 Art VIII of the BBL, creating the position of WALI or titular head of the BangsaMoro that mirrors the role of a head of state.

9. RELATIONS WITH THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT: Sec 1-2 Art VI imposes an “Asymmetric Relationship” and “Parity of Esteem” to govern relations between the proposed entity and the Central government giving the former equal status and parity with the latter. With all the elements of a state virtually granted and guaranteed by the proposed basic law (people, sovereignty, territory and government) the BBL will create a parallel state and can lead to no other conclusion other than an eventual bid by the MILF at independence.

10. PEACE PROCESS: We have reason to believe that the process that was undertaken that led to the signing of the CAB was furtive, not unlike the process that the Arroyo Administration chose to take in trying to obtain public approval for the unlamented MOA-AD. Contrary to this administration’s claims, the peace panel chose to be exclusionary and failed to undertake extensive, open and transparent consultations of all stakeholders within the area of interest. The MOA-AD was brought before the Supreme Court where it was struck down for all the reasons mentioned. The same should be done to the CAB-BBL.

11. INTERNAL SECURITY AND PUBLIC SAFETY: The recent massacre of forty-four (44) PNP Special Action Force law enforcers by the MILF-BIFF and other sympathetic armed groups, has thrown the MILF-BIFF’s sincerity and trustworthiness further into question. The MILF-BIFF is connected to the global jihadist movement, mainly Al Qaeda and Jema’ah Islamiya. Its alleged breakaway group, the BangsaMoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), has reportedly pledged allegiance to ISIS. The MILF and BIFF were co-located in Mamasapano, Maguindanao that provided safe harbor to international terrorists with bounties on their heads – Marwan and Usman. Granting the MILF a homeland is akin to putting a revolver to our heads and playing Russian roulette. Retired Supreme Court Justice Florentino Feliciano said he does not believe the BBL alone can bring peace to Mindanao. The peace problem in Mindanao he said “cannot be whisked away by uttering the word 'peace' no matter how often or loudly the utterance might be.”

12. CULTURE: BBL proponents say that ARMM was a “failed experiment” citing the regional government’s failure to reverse its feudalistic practices, poverty, economic backwardness, rebellion, terror and revenge killings. Changing the political system is the recommended solution to its cultural problem. ARMM’s creation was not an experiment. Its failure lies not in the political system but in the attitudes, behavior and skills of the people. Breaking the vicious cycle requires persistent and sufficient investments in capacity and capability building especially in the tenets of good governance. This is the real solution to the failure of governance in ARMM. If the driver keeps crashing the car, the solution is to retrain the driver instead of changing the car.

13. Social Justice: Proponents say that the BBL addresses the centuries of social injustice suffered by the Muslims in Mindanao. Social injustice, we maintain, is a national concern that has bred armed rebellions and social discontent around the country. Feudalistic practices and the revenge culture are causes of social injustice. So is exclusion that the incumbent administration is accused of. In summary, the BBL betrays the public trust, violates the Constitution; undermines Philippine sovereignty and places public safety and internal security at grave risk. While the incumbent administration maintains that peace in Mindanao will be outgrowth of the BBL, we believe otherwise.

The BBL will be the nation’s undoing. It will inflict more violence and bloodshed; and usher in the country’s eventual disintegration. Every Filipino seeks an enduring peace, but not one obtained furtively and ignores the red flags that could further fragment society, dismember the country and cause more bloodshed. The Comprehensive Agreeement on BangsaMoro and the Bangsamoro Basic Law (CAB-BBL), as signed and originally submitted to Congress, respectively, should be stoutly opposed and rejected. We implore you, our people’s representatives, to do what is right for the sake of our people and the nation’s future.

~~~~O~~~~~

Gising mga Muslim! Ang may pag-iisip ay nag-iisip!

"Dahil ang hangad ng Malaysia ay ang yamang langis at yamang likas mula sa mayamang lupa at dagat ng Mindanao. Magsisilbi itong anihan ng yaman para sa mamamayan ng Malaysia sa kanilang pangangailangang mina mula sa lupa, pagkaing halaw sa bukid at isdang galing sa dagat ng Mindanao."

 

By E. S. Cruz
For FORMA - Friends of Rafael Alunan III
20 May 2015

Alam lamang ng Muslim Mindanao ang laban sa kuffar (Christians/Manila). Ang tunay nilang kaaway ay Malaysia kahit isa itong bansang Muslim.
 
Dahil ang hangad ng Malaysia ay ang yamang langis at yamang likas mula sa mayamang lupa at dagat ng Mindanao. Magsisilbi itong anihan ng yaman para sa mamamayan ng Malaysia sa kanilang pangangailangang mina mula sa lupa, pagkaing halaw sa bukid at isdang galing sa dagat ng Mindanao. Ipinain ng Malaysia ang Muslim Mindanao sa laban sa gobyerno upang manghinawa ang Muslim Mindanao sa kakayahang mamuno at magbigay ng sagot ng gobyernong Pilipinas sa pangangailangan ng Mindanao. 
 
Ngayon ay ipinalalabas na 'Peace' o Katahimikan sa pag ayon ng gobyerno ng Pilipinas sa lihim na hangarin ng Malaysia; ang tuluyang paghiwalay ng Mindanao sa Pilipinas at pagsanib sa Malaysia
 
Gising mga Muslim! Ang may pag-iisip ay nag-iisip. May mga bagay ng hindi ninyo gusto subalit makabubuti sa inyo at may mga bagay na inyong gusto subalit makasasama sa inyo.

Surah 2. Al-Baqara, Ayah 216
كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِتَالُ وَهُوَ كُرْهٌ لَكُمْ ۖ وَعَسَىٰ أَنْ تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ ۖ وَعَسَىٰ أَنْ تُحِبُّوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

Fighting is prescribed for you and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth and ye know not.

Quf al BBL wa Sabru!
 
Itigil ang BBL at maghintay. Stop BBL and Wait!
 
Ang Malaysia ay magnanakaw!/ Malaysia al harami'l kubra!
 
Ninanakaw ng Malaysia and lupa at langis ng Sabah!
 
Isusunod ng Malaysia ang pagnanakaw sa Mindanao!

~~~~O~~~~

The author, an administrator of FORMA - Friends of Rafael Alunan III, is Muslim and is a staunch advocate of "YES TO PEACE! NO TO BBL" Movement.

Sultan of Sulu: No to PH consular office in Sabah

Sultan of Sulu: No to PH consular office in Sabah

THE Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo reiterated its rejection of proposals made by Malaysians for the Philippine government to open a consular office in Sabah.

Apparently agitated by the reports that the Aquino administration has decided to open a consular office in Sabah, Sultan Esmail Kiram 2nd, the reigning Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo, expressed serious concern.

The Sultan’s wazir, not quite his prime minister but his policy adviser, former Gov. Almarin Centi Tillah of Tawi-Tawi, relayed these concerns to The Manila Times’ Publisher-Editor Rene Bas.

“We have every reason to believe that the plan while being denied publicly by Aquino officials, was agreed upon in secret between President Aquino and Prime Minister Najib Razak,” Al Tillah said.

“This is a betrayal not only of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo but also of the Republic of the Philippines. It is against Philippine national interest to virtually abandon the claim to Sabah by opening a consular office there and thereby show the world that the Philippine government accepts Malaysian sovereignty over Sabah,” he added.

In a separate event also on Monday, the Sultanate’s spokesman, Abhraham Idjurani, told Manila Times reporter Ritchie Horario of the Sultanate’s rejection of the plans “of the government to establish a Philippine consular office in Sabah.

Idjurani said saying that this is tantamount to surrendering Philippine sovereignty over Sabah to Malaysia.

“The Sultanate of Sulu is vehemently opposing any move by Malacañang to put up a Consular Office in the disputed territory,” Idjirani said.

The establishment of a consular office in the disputed territory was raised during the recent visit of President Benigno Aquino 3rd in Malaysia.

In case the plan pushes through, Idjirani said, Aquino would be the first Philippine President to start with “a wrong policy to waste a national legacy and as part of the Muslim contribution to nation building.”

“He has forgotten that any effort to diminish this legacy is a betrayal to the Filipino Great Cause,” he added.

He added that Aquino must remind Malaysia that it should adhere to the rule of law embodied in the 1963 Manila Accord.

North Borneo is that part of Sabah that is the sovereign territory of the reigning Sultans of Sulu and North Borneo.

The present Sultan, Esmail Kiram II, as his predecessors did, gladly accepts the fact of his being a Filipino citizen. Therefore, any lands and seas in his realm is part of the Republic of the Philippines.

That Sabah is Philippine territory is affirmed by the transfer by the then reigning Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo, Muhammad Esmail Kiram I, “of full sovereignty, title and dominion” over Sabah to the Philippines on September 12, 1962. The President of the Philippines then was Diosdado Macapagal.

Legal documents show that Sabah was leased by the Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo to agents of the British North Borneo Company. The UK then handed over the lease to the leaders of Malaya when they, with British support, were forming the Federation of Malaysia.

The Malaysian government maintains that Sabah belongs to it and Sabah is a state of the federation. The Philippines disputes that claim.

During President Aquino’s visit to Malaysia last week, Malaysian media once again played up proposals that the Philippines open a consular office in Sabah.

Problems of Filipino “migrants” in Sabah—Filipino Muslims carrying Philippine passports—have been cited by Malaysians as the reason there should be a consulate.

The way the news reached the Philippines, it seemed as if President Aquino and his administration have agreed to these proposals.

That is not true. President Aquino himself has stated that he did not want the Sabah dispute to be discussed but that Prime Minister Najib Razak did.

The Malaysian PM suggested the establishment of a hotline over the Sabah dispute. The hotline would be between the Philippine and Malaysian security authorities. The Malaysian PM himself told journalists this detail.

http://manilatimes.net/sultan-of-sulu-no-to-ph-consular-office-in-sabah/81648/

Year 2013 will be remembered as the Aquino Govt's anti-Filipino and anti-Philippine sovereignty year

And the latest shocker: The incompetence and the corruption continue! Mr Aquino and his agents played and are playing partisan politics as Tacloban and the rest of the Visayas 'burned' and continue to burn in the post Yolanda-Haiyan catastrophe.

By Anne de Bretagne
12 December 2013
for the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum

On the Philippine front: Year 2013 has been for me a most disappointing year.

Firstly, because whatever one says, Mr Aquino and many in his Govt of merry men gave up Panatag Shoal without batting an eyelash. The Philippine Navy until the reign of Mr Aquino had always fought to keep Panatag Shoal despite their meagre assets. In the 90s, the PN did not allow poachers in it and kept intruders in check. Today, we can say goodbye to Panatag Shoal. Yes, the Philippines has raised the issue to the United Nations but I am under no illusion that even if the UN verdict is in our favour, Panatag will not be returned to PH. Let's face it: China has succeeded in stationing themselves right in our EEZ and there's nothing much we can do about it because the man who is supposed to lead this country does not possess the moral courage and the mental acumen to lead and do something about it.

Secondly, the Sabah stand off showed the true colours of the President of the Republic by overtly siding with Prime Minister Najib and the Malaysian murderers of Tausugs who had gone to Sabah to stake their claim. Mr Aquino, in his bid to honour the memory of his father and his so-called promise to the Malaysians, wittingly left out the Tausugs in his hurry to form the Malaysia-engineered Bangsamoro with the MILF rebels.

Thirdly: Filipinos then discovered the massive corruption industry that's been keeping Philippine politics alive and thriving which is also known as the Pork Barrel Corruption industry! The industry is still thriving last time I read the news but just renamed: DAP.

Fourthly: And while PH was still reeling from the incredibly corrupt Pork Barrel Corruption industry shock, Filipinos began killing each other in the South. The President led the charge in killing Filipinos. I am convinced that the Zamboanga "stand-off" was an offshoot of this Govt's pro-Malaysia stand that saw the unecessary killings of our own.

And the latest shocker: The incompetence and the corruption continue! Mr Aquino and his agents played and are playing politics as Tacloban and the rest of the Visayas 'burned' and continue to burn in the post Yolanda-Haiyan catastrophe.

These are the major issues that haunt Year 2013 for me. Understandably, there are hundreds more of sub-issues but to list them down is just depressing so I prefer to limit the list to the above five. However, the year is not over and there remains a big question: Will there be any more anti-Filipino and anti-Ph sovereignty events or issues in store from the Aquino Govt for 2013?

~~~~O~~~~

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013: THE BEGINNING OF THE DISMANTLING OF THE REPUBLIC? SEPT 16, 1963: DATE INCORPORATING SABAH INTO MALAYSIA FEDERATION

THE BEGINNING OF THE DISMANTLING OF THE REPUBLIC?

SEPT 16, 2013: Date of  the schedule of the signing of the Malaysia-engineered GPH-MILF 'wealth sharing' agreement to be witnessed by officials from Kuala Lumpur and a general from the Malaysia armed forces.

SEPT 16, 1963: Date of the illegal transfer of Sabah to then Malaya Federation, also the date of the establishment of the Malaysia Federation formally incorporating Sabah which took place a few weeks after the signing of the Manila Accord, a treaty between the to-be-created-Malaysia Federation and the Philippines that guaranteed the recognition of the Republic's claim to Sabah which is recorded in the United Nations.

The signing of the 75-25% wealth sharing agreement engineered by Malaysia between GPH (25%) and rebel group MILF (75%) -- to the exclusion of the MNLF, the BIFF, the Tausugs, the Sultanate of Sulu, and all other groups in Southern Mindanao, is scheduled on September 16, 2013.

Choosing the September 16, 2013 date to formally surrender a great portion of the wealth of -- and the Republic's effective sovereignty over Southern Mindanao to Malaysia-controlled MILF, a splinter rebel group in Mindanao whose long-running ambition has been to federate with Kuala Lumpur, is totally indecent to say the least.

We suspect that the date was selected at the behest of the Malaysian friends of President Aquino, to whom his family owes a debt of gratitude, in order to drive the final nail in the coffin of the Republic's claim. We all know, Malaysia is the country that funded, supplied arms, and positioned rebel groups in Mindanao to sow mayhem in the country's southern region.  In fact, Malaysian troops are stationed in Mindanao as we speak.

We are in no doubt that the September 16, 2013 signing of this Malaysia-engineered deal is one of the reasons that spurred the MNLF into a revolt resulting in the current stand off in Zamboanga City. President Aquino ordered the chiefs of DND and DILG to check into the stand off.  The date will formally put to everlasting rest the 1996 Treaty that the Government of the Philippines signed with the MNLF, a comprehensive peace treaty which, if you remember, was shunned by the Malaysia-controlled MILF at the time, and whose treaty terms have been waylaid by succeeding PH administrations in favour of the pro-Malaysia deal with the MILF.

Meanwhile, as the stand-off progresses and MNLF's Nur Misuari (who wants the 1996 peace treaty terms with GPH to be reviewed) is villified in the press and by those who have not clearly understood the dynamics at play, the President is busy entertaining in Malacanang (in picture above), along with his cousin and supporter Tony Boy Cojuangco, none other than Air Asia Chief Executive Officer, Tony Fernandez, a Malaysian. Air Asia is a Malaysia low-cost airline headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. For your information, Mr Fernandez of Air Asia is the staunchest supporter in the Malaysia corporate world of Kuala Lumpur troop movements against Tausug settlers in Lahad Datu in Sabah during the first quarter of this year. But what exactly is going on?

We are tempted to believe that the Government of Noynoy Aquino has all the reasons to put one up over Misuari and the MNLF because for as long as Misuari is alive, he will spell trouble to Malaysia's envisioned control of the rich Southern Mindanao region through its proxy, the MILF, and Nur Misuari will always be a destabilising force in Kuala Lumpur's illegal hold on Sabah.

The September 16, 2013 signing of the Malaysia-engineered 'peace deal' sounds not only like an omen: it is also a hard-hitting back-to-back slap to the Tausugs, to the Sultanate of Sulu, the MNLF along with the various factions that had been sidelined by GPH and Malaysia in the so-called MILF Bangsamoro peace deal. It is effectively the officious burial date of the UN Treaty 8029 otherwise known as the Manila Accord.

But what is worse, it is the supreme insult to and the final stab at the scores of people who were murdered by Malaysian troops in Lahad Datu while defending their right to Sabah.

Is it possible that on September 16 in the not too distant future, we will also be witnessing the signing of the formal transfer of the MILF's Bangsamoro as inspired by Kuala Lumpur to the Malaysia Federation?

BUT WHAT IS PRESIDENT AQUINO's GOVERNMENT THINKING?

~By Administrators
Philippine Sabah Claim Forum
Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims
Sabah Claim Society
10 September 2013

*Picture of a dead Tausug warrior killed by Kuala Lumpur troops in Sabah from Malaysia Today

Zamboanga City stand-off, Malaysia-engineered GPH-MILF peace deal and the 50-year old unresolved Sabah issue

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Kick out Malaysia troops from Mindanao! Kick out Malaysia from so-called peace talks with the MILF

We have always said that we should not allow Malaysia to engineer peace talks. 

We don't have anything against wealth sharing with members of our country, individuals or groups but we take issue with the presence of Kuala Lumpur. We don't want Kuala Lumpur's people in Mindanao. We don't want their troops in Mindanao. And this entire GPH-MILF so-called peace framework agreement has sidelined groups in Mindanao notably the MNLF and the Sultanate of Sulu whose sons and daughters are languishing in jail and possibly will face the death penalty in Kuala Lumpur government prisons over the Tanduo, Sabah siege in February. 

Why did they do that? Why did President Aquino approve such Malaysia-engineered arrangement? Because we figure it is his way of annihilating the Philippine claim to Sabah. He is not a true patriot. We must be extremely careful that we are not actually "selling" off a piece of Mindanao to appease Malaysia through Kuala Lumpur-funded rebels MILF.

Kick out Malaysia troops from Mindanao! 


It smacks of great stupidity to allow Kuala Lumpur to engineer this so-called peace talks. President Aquino, ever the appeaser himself said that he has a personal debt of gratitude to Malaysia. What debt of gratitude? His father's debt of gratitude to the Malaysians, to Mahathir via the Sultan of Johor, is not the nation's debt. President Aquino's sister, Kris Aquino, who, by the way, has been cavorting with the Sultan of Johor if we believe her own show, could very well pay for that debt personally and there's no need to involve the nation's national integrity in that Aquino debt of gratitude.

It smacks of common sense that you do not allow one with whom you have an outstanding territorial dispute to engineer an important peace initiative with your country's secessionist rebels. And we have an outstanding territorial dispute over Sabah with Kuala Lumpur. 

Doesn't the Aquino Administration know that Malaysia, the engineers of the so-called peace framework, has been funding rebels against this govt for the last 40 years? Kuala Lumpur has been funding the MILF to sow terror in Muslim Mindanao. Kuala Lumpur has been able to stage manage this rebellion and then convinced the Philippine government to accept Malaysia boots in Mindanao. How stupid and idiotic can one get!

Malaysia has not even deigned honor the Manila Accord, a United Nations treaty no less, which was signed 50 years ago and you trust them not to be in cahoots with the MILF to push the 13 provinces to ultimately secede from the Philippines? 

Once more with feeling: You cannot and must not trust the MILF. They do not speak for all the Muslims in Mindanao. They do not represent the great Bangsamoro. There are at the very least 5 rebel factions in Mindanao among which is the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the enemies of the MILF, on top of which you have the Sultanate of Sulu which has been sidelined by this inept Aquino Administration.

The MILF has been funded by Kuala Lumpur since the early 70s to wage war against the Republic of the Philippines. They are the permanent boots of Kuala Lumpur in Mindanao. Wake up. Open your eyes. 

A Malaysia-engineered so-called peace framework cannot bring the ultimate peace that you desire.

Start all over again! Kick out Malaysia from "peace talks" and kick out "Malaysia troops" from Mindanao. Select another country to chair peace talks and assemble, include all the rebel groups in Mindanao in the drafting of a peace agreement. To achieve a minimum of just and lasting peace, the process must be inclusive otherwise pockets of war will be inevitable.

~~ By HM Sultana Matt Salleh
for the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum
15 July 2013

HOW TO HELP SULUK FAMILIES WHO HAVE BEEN UNJUSTLY DEPORTED FROM THEIR HOMELAND BY KUALA LUMPUR

A photo report posted by Philippine Sabah Claim Forum member PManalo; caption reads: "repost from REACT Phil. June 25, 2013 @ 8:05 pm 116 deportees arrived @ Bongao Port, karamihan sa kanila ay menor de edad pa kasama na rin isang 2 kalahating taong gulang na bata at dalawa sa menor de edad na deportees nagkakaroon na ng deperensya sa pagiisip dahil ikunulong daw sila ng 100 days sa tawau sabah malaysia." Also posted on Sabah Claim Society community page. 

Muslim families in Sulu are in dire need of your help for the Tausugs and the Suluks who have gone and continue to go through the most horrendous experience following the Tanduo siege in Sabah. 

While our government is showing sympathy to our kababayans who are convicted of a crime in a foreign country and is taking drastic action to help save their lives, our Muslim families in Sabah are still suffering from the atrocities of Malaysian troops and police authorities without overt sympathy from the tenants of Malacanang.  

Many had been incarcerated and starved before deportation; many have died or been killed and will never see the shores of Sulu; others have left Sabah on their own to escape death. There is a vast number of Suluk "deportees" from their own Sabah homeland who need help. The forced and unjust "deportation" in the most inhuman circumastances has not stopped. Those who have luckily reached the shores of Sulu are in need of food and medicine. The sick, the wounded, the hungry need help. 

Raayat Bangsa Suluk, a charity group by the Kiram family of Sulu, has set up a group on Facebook. The group has just put up a Paypal account through which someone - especially located overseas, who wishes to help can send donation online. If you wish to donate in kind or in person, you can also go to their physical office address. 

Here's their PayPal Account: kiramn@yahoo.com

To donate locally and in person, here's a "how to do it" list from Fatima Shehan Kiram Idjirani of the Raayat Bangsa Suluk:

"If someone asks for our Org's address so they can send donations in kind, please refer them to 1) Address: Suite 2306 Cityland 10 Tower 2, H.V. Dela Costa Street corner Street Makati City 1226; and 2) please go to the Files Tab of this group page and forward to them the Donation Form. The form is much needed for auditing purposes. Thank you :)"

Anyone interested may also download a form from the group by clicking on the following Facebook link: Raayat Bangsa Suluk

Another organisation through which help to our Suluks families may be coursed is One World Institute, Inc., a non-profit organisation, headed by one of our compatriots, Yolanda Ortega Stern, who has been doing this silently for years now. This organization has provided livelihood programs for our people. If you have a Facebook account, please visit their Facebook page and "LIKE" it to know more. You can get more information from the page how to help. Link: One World Institute

Please visit their Facebook link to view page and "LIKE" it. There's some information about the organization and how it provides a livelihood program for the people there. Our compatriot, Yolanda Ortega Stern heads this organization and has been doing charitable projects silently without fanfare. But the organisation deserves to be noticed and those who can help may do so. 

Here's something we have copied and pasted from One World Institute:

One World Institute will be initiating a new pilot project in Sulu in Coconut Processing to help our OWI community earn money for their daily bread. They will grate and press the coconuts to sell the "sapal" and the cold squeezed virgin coconut oil. Filipino innovative technology for low cost production in an area that suffers lack of electricity, will be utilized. 

We will also be helping TechnoteBambooPhil promote their Bamboo project by encouraging growing bamboo wherever we can. They now have a nursery in Kidapawan, Cotabato. Rimmon Paren has trained and is ready. The OWI community will initially join in providing the bamboo to them. Seedlings are now for sale. 

To our partners, you can be an investor/partner or donate Php 55 K for a coconut processing machine. Or you can donate bamboo seedlings purchased in Kidapawan. 

OWI will provide the logistics and market for all the products, using our Seaweed Farm Associations as the model. The community owns the project, OWI manages, markets, and they get all the income. 

OWI does not charge administrative fees from any donations. What you give is what they get. 

Our Seaweed Farms continue to thrive. Hundreds of families are subsisting today on the income they derive from selling their dried seaweeds. More could be done for them if we had a processing plant for secondary processing. We will be experimenting with using the same machine to chop seaweed as well. 

OWI, AAI, and IPI will join again in the sharing of hypertensive medicines and books to hard hit areas where libraries perished during Pablo. Dengue is on the rise again. 

So join our Coconut Army, the Seaweed Navy and the Bamboo Brigade. Plant bamboo. 

Thank you to all our volunteers and partners as we change gears from wheelchair distribution to concentrate our scarce resources on old and new projects that help our communities put food on the table. We have listened to the OWI communities. "We cannot eat books" is a desperate commentary on the hard times. 

Join us one and all, in the projects that fill the heart. The difference is YOU. 

For more, click here.

NOTE BENE: We, the Admins of the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum, its Defenders community page and its sister sites on FB and on the worldwide web, would like to emphasize, that we are not in any manner connected to the above organisations and are in no way responsible for these organizations. We have posted the above sites on the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum and its sister sites on Facebook and in the Group's blogs in response to enquiries by some members on how they could help. The posts on how to help Suluks in dire need following their forced and unjustified deportation from Sabah are a PUBLIC SERVICE. Thank you.

~~ Administrators

• Philippine Sabah Claim Forum
• Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims
• Sabah Claim Society

28 June 2013

Sabah's sovereignty 1946 - 1963: Compromised by the British colonisation but belonged legally to Sultanate of Sulu

UNDERSTANDING THE SABAH PROBLEM 

One factor that is essential in the comprehension of the Sabah problem is to understand that Sabah was only officially colonised by the British Crown only in 1946 which means that UNTIL THEN, North Borneo (Sabah) WAS PART of the Sultanate of Sulu although leased. 

Despite Britain's official colonisation of Sabah from 1946 until 1963, it is my opinion that Sabah's sovereignty, although compromised by the British colonisation, still legally belonged to the Sultanate of Sulu. However, we all know that the Sultanate of Sulu ceded full sovereignty of Sabah to the Philippine Republic on 12 Septemeber 1962 while it was still a colony of Britain.

On 31 July 1963, prior to the creation of the Malaysia Federation, the Manila Accord was signed by three heads of state namely, Macapagal of the Ph ilippines, Soekarno of Indonesia and Rahman of the Malaya Federation (which was not yet Malaysia Federation). Registered as United Nations Treaty 8029, Section 12 of the Manila Accord stipulated that Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, on behalf of the Malaya Federation, 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 16th September 1963.)
 
On 31 August 1963, Britain granted Sabah, which had been under British Crown control since 1946 (and whose sovereignty rights had been ceded the year before to the Republic of the Phlippines), its independence.

On 16 September 1963 or sixteen days after Britain granted Sabah its independence, and despite PH protests, it was annexed to a new federation in the making called MALAYSIA instead of returning it either to the Sultanate of Sulu or to the Republic of the Philippines which had already inherited sovereignty rights over Sabah from the Sultanate by virtue of the transfer on 12 September 1962.
 
On 18 September 1968, while Malaysia had taken de facto control of Sabah, the Republic of the Philippines enacted an act - AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION ONE OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED THIRTY HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX, ENTITLED “AN ACT TO DEFINE THE BASELINES OF THE TERRITORIAL SEA OF THE PHILIPPINES” - to ammend our baselines and known today as Republic Act 5446 which acknowledges title and dominion over Sabah, thus by PH law, Sabah is Philippine territory. RA 5446 is still in vigour. 

As Law Professor Isagani Cruz says:

"President Noynoy faces an insoluble dilemma. If he believes that Sabah is part of the Philippines, he has to defend Sabah because Malaysia is attacking it. If he does not believe that Sabah is part of the Philippines, he opens himself up to impeachment, because Philippine law says that Sabah is part of the Philippines and he is sworn to uphold Philippine law. Talking of a conspiracy does not solve the problem; in fact, it is irrelevant if there is or there is no conspiracy. The dilemma has to do simply with his stand on Sabah itself."

To my mind, the Sultanate of Sulu, and by extension the royal heirs, is irrelevant in the PH claim because Sabah is already PH territory by PH law. The Philippine Republic, however, has contractual obligations which it signed when it accepted from the Sultanate of Sulu the full transfer of sovereignty rights in 1962 and one of these contractual obligations is to prosecute the claim and in so doing, help the Sultante of Sulu's proprietary rights to be recognised. So we cannot actually take it against the Sultanate for feeling doubly rebuffed. It is the Philippine Republic's contractual obligation to do it and the Government has been remiss in its obligations.

NB: The relevant point in the Sabah question is THE NINE SULTANATE HEIRS and not whoever the sultan is. The Philippine Government must not use the Kirams' intra-family bickering as an excuse NOT to perform the Republic's contractual obligation.

Nota Bene: OTHER VERY IMPORTANT NOTE THAT EVERYONE MUST KNOW: When the Sabah lease was signed 134 years ago -- on the 22nd of January 1878, between the Sultanate of Sulu & Sabah and two foreign businessmen, the Sultanate ensured that their rights to Sabah ownership were protected with this all encompassing moral and legal clause  clearly spelled out in the lease contract, to wit (Restrictive clause): 

"...but the rights and powers hereby leased shall not be transferred to any nation, or a company of other nationality, without the consent of Their Majesties Government." 

Related story in this blog link: Nemo nos impune lacessit (No one hits us with impunity)
Link to Republic Act 5446 /

~~ By Anne de Bretagne
For the Defenders of the Philippine Sabah Claim
05 March 2013

Kris Aquino and the Sultan of Johor: President's sister "cavorts with the enemy", a very public slap to the Tausugs in Sabah

We agree that "It was insensitive of Kris Aquino to feature the Sultan of Johor at the time when the wounds of the February-March Sabah bloodfight have not healed and the root of the problem has not been addressed."

Our question: Was the meeting between Kris Aquino and the Sultan of Johor of a political or personal flirtation nature? Whatever it was, we believe that the meeting is sending all the wrong signals to the people Sulu, the Tausugs, the Suluks, the Sultanate of Sulu and the Filipino nation including to the political aparatchiks in Kuala Lumpur.

We frankly don't care even if she 'screws' or 'beds' all the sultans of Malaysia if she does it discreetly but what we do care about is that because she is the sister of President NoyNoy Aquino, a showbiz person in her own right, her very public move is a subliminal message from Malacanang to the Kuala Lumpur royalties and politicians that NoyNoy Aquino is officially paving the way for the giving up of the nation's sovereignty right over Sabah.

The country has an outstanding issue with Kuala Lumpur. Many of our countrymen were brutalised, and murdered by Malaysian troops in the recent Kuala Lumpur attacks on Lahad Datu. Many are facing prison sentences and even the death penalty in Malaysia. This callous move by Kris Aquino is like a slap to those Tausugs in Sabah who have been fighting for a piece of dignity. 

For President Aquino's sister to be seen "cavorting with the enemy" is really despicable in the extreme.

~~ Admins, Philippine Sabah Claim Forum
20 June 2013

Report below:

Kris Aquino and the Sultan of Johor
From  the Blog of Ellen Tordesillas

It was insensitive of Kris Aquino to feature the Sultan of Johor at the time when the wounds of the February-March Sabah bloodfight have not healed and the root of the problem has not been addressed. 

Tuesday’s feature of Kris TV was the Sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Ismail, a close friend of the Aquino’s. 

Kris related that her family’s closeness with the Sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Ismail, dates back to their Boston stay in the mid’80s. The Sultan was a student in the United States at that time. Internet search showed that he received military training in the US–at Fort Benning, Georgia and later at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. 

Kris said the image that she had of the Sultan during their Boston meetings was Ibrahim driving a Rolls Royce.

The Sultan showed off his collection of expensive cars, numbering 300. It is reported that the Johor Sultan and President Aquino share a passion for luxury cars.

Kris excitedly quipped while she was touring the Sultan’s air-conditioned garage, “I’ll show Noy the video and he’ll come.”

The Lahad Datu siege in March this year, which was precipitated by the decision of the Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III to press their ownership of a large part of Sabah, now one of the 13 states of Malaysia despite the claim of the Philippines over the oil and mineral rich territory , some three-fourths of it was given by the Sultan of Brunei to the Sultan of Sulu in 1704 as a reward for the latter’s help in suppressing a rebellion.

Early February, some 80 to 100 men led by Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, brother of Jamalul Kiram III, arrived in the coastal village of Lahad Datu in Sabah and resisted attempts by Malaysian authorities to expel them. The fighting spread to the town of Semporna. One of the Malaysian policemen killed was L/Kpl Mohd Azrol Tukiran, a close friend of the Johor prince, Tuanku Laksamana Tunku Abdul Jalil, who is also a member of the Malaysian police.

A Malaysian newspaper reported that the Sultan of Johor wept over the policeman’s death saying the victim and his son” close friends and even slept next to each other during their police special forces training in Ulu Kinta in Perak.”

Link to original article: aquino-and-the-sultan-of-johor/