SABAH CLAIM REFRAIN: "BLAME SOMEONE ELSE BUT ME"

"When Malaya's Tunku Abdul Rahman went to Sabah before the Sabah referendum in 1962 to talk to the elders of North Borneo (Sabah), why did not the Philippines and its Government do the same to organise a campaign in situ to get the Sabahans on side? Why didn't they do it?


 
By Anne de Bretagne
For the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum
for the Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims
and for Sabah Claim Society
23 August 2015


Now, is "blame someone else but me" a distinct Filipino character trait? I'm beginning to think it is! 

For the last few years, the usual refrain when people discuss the Sabah claim issue is to blame the British for the situation the Philippines finds itself in with regard to its stale claim on Sabah. Well, well...

Alright, let's deal with it and throw the Framework Agreement, the BBL, the entire immobile Sabah claim, the Sultanate of Sulu bickering (nearly fratricidal crap, etc, etc) and include with them the kitchen sink at the British. 

I agree the British 'created the problem' as many people who have just recently discovered the North Borneo (Sabah) conundrum have been spewing all over the place.  But here's what: these Filipinos must understand and admit once and for all that the Philippines contributed largely to that decision that created the problem (and continues to contribute unequivocally to the problem TODAY).

But let's be fair and be a bit more clever about things. It's nice to have a punching bag or to have a butt of "sisi" (much like Noynoy aka as Boy Sisi), in this case, the British, but we must ascertain that the Philippines, its leaders and its people aren't at  fault either before we cast blame or "sisi" all around. Anyway, if we want to cast "sisi" all around, here are some real reasons for you to go and do all the "sisi" you want:

(1) At the time, i.e., early 60s, Senator Jovi Salonga was working so hard negotiating with the Brits, your/our own countryman, Senator Lorenzo Sumulong, a flamboyant ex-diplomat to the UN (who happens to be the grand uncle of current PH president, Noynoy Aquino), was going all over the place, attacking and casting vitriolic heaps of acid via the PH Senate pulpit to whip PH Govt and its Sabah claim to extinction. 

He sold the PH claim to Tunku Adul Rahman, then Malaysia's Prime Minister by acting as the soon-to-be-created Malaysia Federation's attack dog against the Government of the Philippines and its claim to Sabah. It wouldn't surprise me therefore, that like the big powers at the time, the Brits took this all-Philippine treasonous approach to the Sabah claim, happening in one of the highest echelons of power, as an excuse to say, "Bloody hell! You people don't know what you want? Well, I'll decide for you!" (Let's not beat around the bush, it was an all-Filipino treason game which must have greatly amused the Brits and the Malayans!) 

(2) Furthermore, if blame has to be cast all around, let's not look far away.... Our own masters and commanders at the time, the great United States of America, did not lift a finger, did not do anything at all to help us convince the British to allow the Sultanate of Sulu to have it back in 1962. On the contrary, the Americans not only did not pay even scant attention to this issue but also discouraged us from tackling the Sabah issue (check out records from as far back as 1957). And one would have thought that as our greatest allies, they would see our way. But heck, no...just didn't happen, but you don't see me around blaming the Americans, now, do you? (Fast forward... In 1967 or 68, it was America that alerted Britain that Marcos was on a "war path" and so what happened? Britain tried to show force by landing fighter aircraft on our own soil. Did America say anything? Nope! Not a word! They were in cahoots with the UK!)

(3) One important element: When Malaya's Tunku Abdul Rahman went to Sabah before the Sabah referendum in 1962 to talk to the elders of North Borneo (Sabah), why did not the Philippines do the same to organise a campaign in situ to get the Sabahans on side? Why?

The Philippine Government was well aware of what was going to happen but did not lift a finger, did not do anything and instead, LEFT EVERYTHING TO FATE as in "Bahala na!" The Government at the time just sat on its big fat ass while the other party, the Malayans led by Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, were going at things hammer and tong right in the heart of Sabah to convince the Sabahans to join the soon-to-be created Malaysia Federation. TOTAL PHILIPPINE INERTIA! PH Govt just didn't go the extra mile even if it meant saving Sabah claim's own skin for God and country. Parbleu! And you think we are not to blame?

And I can recite a long series of other "blames" but I won't. I'll stop at those because they should be enough to enlighten you.

So, lets be a bit more clever about this, shall we? Because we can't just be making "sisi" all around like Noynoy does today when things go wrong and believe that it's everybody else's fault but ours! If you really want to know, we were as much to blame for being generally do-lally about the claim. 

This "sisi" doctrine seems to be deeply embedded in our psyche but let's get over it and move on!

Let's not allow classic INERTIA (Bahala na!) to overcome us just because it makes us feel better to  whine consistently and to look back to the past to blame the British for all that has gone badly with Sabah (of which, I must remind Filipinos, are also largely, hugely responsible for, anyway) and let this politics of blame stop at the water's edge! Instead, FIND SOLUTIONS TO HOW TO GET THE BLASTED SABAH BACK or at the very least, find solutions not to allow this country to be partitioned by radicals, zealots, fanatics, secessionists, Malaysian warriors by proxy in the southern Philippines with the treasonous complicity -- again of Govt officials, elected and appointed!

Blaming the Brits for the Sabah debacle ad vitam eternam is not going to help achieve what many Filipinos want, i.e., get Sabah back. 

~~~~O~~~~

A remarkable and consistent Aquino clan tradition of disdain for the Republic's Sabah claim

When Mrs Cory Aquino became president of the Philippines following the fall of President Marcos in 1986, she tried hard to convince the royal Kirams of the Sultanate of Sulu, acknowledged heirs to North Borneo (Sabah) to drop their proprietary claims to Sabah. 

We think that was a tack she chose to be able to convince Congress to drop PH sovereignty rights claim to Sabah. However, popular as she might be then, Mrs Aquino encountered strong resistance from the public and from the members of Congress. With that for a backdrop in 1987, the PH government was unable to officially drop the country's long standing Sabah claim despite Mrs Aquino's efforts.

The disdain for the nation's Sabah claim, it seems, has been a remarkable and consistent tradition in the Aquino clan. 

In 1963, Senator Lorenzo Sumulong, uncle of Mrs Cory Aquino, himself rose against the Republic's move to put forward its Sabah claim by openly siding with the British and publicly praising the vision of Malaya's then prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman. Sumulong ridiculed the efforts of then President Diosdado Macapagal and Senator Jovito Salonga, the country's Sabah claim champion.

In 1968, Mrs Aquino's husband, Senator Benigno Aquino Jr, exposed Operation Merdeka by sensationalising it as the 'Jabiddah Massacre'. Operation Merdeka, in fact, was the first physical attempt by the Republic to take Sabah back. Following Mr Aquino's denunciation of the covert operation, Kuala Lumpur began to finance and support the separatist movement by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that saw the secession wars in Mindanao for many decades.

There have been revelations recently too that Senator Ninoy Aquino had actually sought Malaysia PM Mahathir before his return to PH from exile to the effect that in exchange for Malaysia support for toppling President Marcos,  Mr Aquino (the father) would be president and once he became president, he vowed to the Malaysian leader that PH would officially drop the Sabah claim. 

In February 2013, Mrs Aquino's own son, Noynoy, himself elected to the Philippine presidency, has been doing all he can for the Philippine Sabah claim to be dropped even it it means 'cavorting' with Kuala Lumpur and sacrificing the Tausugs of Sulu who are being wiped out in Sabah by foreign military troops. In keeping with family tradition of disdain for the Philippine Sabah claim, and even as Filipino Tausugs are being slaughtered by Malaysia troops under orders of Najib Razak, President NoyNoy Aquino asks, "But what do you want me to do?"

~~ By Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims
04 April 2013
  

Claim to North Borneo (Sabah) is the claim of the entire Republic - Senator Jovito Salonga

On 25 March 1963,  many months before the creation of the Malaysia Federation, Senator Lorenzo Sumulong delivered a Privilege Speech on Philippines' North Borneo (Sabah) Claim in the Philippine Senate. 

In his privilege speech, Senator Sumulong berated the Republic's Sabah claim and tried vigorously to invalidate the Philippine Sabah claim by siding with the British and by praising Tunku Abdul Rahman's vision for the planned Malaysia Federation that would deprive the Philippines of its sovereignty rights over North Borneo (Sabah).

In his speech, Senator Sumulong insisted that Sabah should be handed to Kuala Lumpur. (Senator Sumulong is the grand uncle of President Benigno Aquino III through his mother, President Cory Aquino, a niece of Senator Sumulong.)

Senator Salonga

Five days later or on 30 March 1963, Senator Jovito Salonga delivered one of the best elocutions that this Republic has ever known with his magistral defence of the interest of the Republic which will (and should) continue to haunt the Republic especially against the backdrop of what is happening to the Republic's territorial claims and the inaction of this Government concerning North Borneo (Sabah).

In his stinging point-by-point rebuke of Senator Lorenzo Sumulong's virtually treacherous stand, Senator Jovito Salonga concluded his speech by sounding an ominous clarion call and called Senator Sumulong to task. He reminded Senator Sumulong and the Philippine Senate the following: 

"It is only now that Britain and Malaya have become increasingly appreciative of our stand and their willingness not to prejudice our claim despite Malaysia is certainly a great credit to the [Macapagal] Administration."

He warned Senator Sumulong with these words which bear repeating until we obtain Sabah back: 

"If between now and August 31,1963, the scheduled date of birth of the Malaysia Federation, these countries should stiffen in their attitude towards our claim, I must state in all candor that for all my respect for him and even assuming the nobility of his motives, the good Senator cannot fully escape the burden of responsibility."

The following words of Senator Salonga remain valid to this day and must be the guiding tenet of the Republic in its pursuit of its claim to North Borneo (Sabah).

"I believe that on such a fundamental question as this, it may be well for us to remember that political considerations, bitternessand endless quibbling should stop at the water's edge and that the claim to North Borneo is not the claim of the President, nor of the Liberal Party, nor of his Administration, but a claim of the entire Republic, based on respect for the rule of law, the sanctity of contractual obligations, the sacredness of facts and the relentless logic of our situation in this part of the world."

NOTA BENE:

31 August 1963 came to pass... On that day, Britain granted North Borneo (Sabah) its independence. 
Two weeks later or on 16 September, Malaysia Federation was created with North Borneo (Sabah). Thanks to the 'collaborative' spirit of Senator Sumulong who showed his subservience to the British and who served Malaya Peninsula's interests with great vigour, North Borneo (Sabah) fell in the hands of Kuala Lumpur.

And today or 50 years later, the tradition of the family of Senator Aquino of serving the interest of other countries against that of the Republic of the Philippines continues with outstanding consistency.

~~ By Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims

26 March 2013

Link to the entirety of Senator Salonga's POINT-BY-POINT REPLY TO SENATOR SUMULONG'S PRIVILEGE SPEECH ON THE PHILIPPINE NORTH BORNEO (SABAH) CLAIM: http://fr.scribd.com/doc/128365977/A-Point-by-Point-Reply-to-Senator-Sumulong-s-Speech-on-the-Philippines-North-Borneo-Sabah-Claim

Link to the Senator Sumulong's privilege speech seeking the surrender of Sabah to Kuala Lumpur: http://jovitosalongajournals.blogspot.be/2012/02/privilege-speech-of-senator-lorenzo.html

THE NORTH BORNEO (SABAH) QUESTION

At the Senate in 1966: Rookie Senator Jovito Salonga confers with veteran legislator, Lorenzo Tañada. 1966. Courtesy of Steve Salonga.

FIFTY YEARS AGO, on 30 March 1963, Senator Salonga, described by one of this Admin's closest friends (a public figure himself now deceased) as one of the extremely rare ethical leaders and political figures this country has ever produced, delivered an exquisite "Point-by-Point Reply to Senator Sumulong's Speech on the Philippines' North Borneo (Sabah) Claim".

Senator Sumulong, uncle of President Cory Aquino, had berated the Republic's claim to Sabah as invalid and had supported then Malaysia's position, even praising the record and vision of then Malaya/Malaysia leader and prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman instead of supporting the Philippine Sabah claim.

Senator Salonga, father of the Philippine Sabah claim, rose to the occasion and delivered a stinging rebuttal to what Defenders of the Philippine Sabah Claim describe as Senator Sumulong's unpatriotic -- almost treacherous, position.

INTRO: "Largely through the efforts of President Diosdado Macapagal, MaphHindo was bom, composed of Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. How to settle the Sabah claim of the Philippines through peaceful means was one of the items in the Tokyo Maphilindo Summit of June 1964, which I attended as Legal Adviser to President Macapagal. 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." 

EXCERPTS: "Senator Sumulong has now found it proper and imperative, if we take him literally, to ventilate his views berating the merit and validity of the Republic's claim, accusing his own Government of gross ignorance and holding in unbelievable disdain the Philippine position on the British-sponsored Malaysia plan. He has chosen to assault the Philippine position at a time when his own Government, by virtue of the British request, may be said to be somewhat helpless in making, right in our own country, an adequate, fully-documented defense of the Philippine stand." 

.../.... 

"...the claim to North Borneo is not the claim of the President, nor of the Liberal Party, nor of his Administration, but a claim of the entire Republic, based on respect for the rule of law, the sanctity of contractual obligations, the sacredness of facts and the relentless logic of our situation in this part of the world." ~~ Senator Jovito R Salonga  

To read the speech: Jovito R Salonga Journal

~~ Admin Adb, Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims