THE PHILIPPINES said it would revive the “North Borneo Bureau” to exert its claim to the mineral-rich Sabah even if Malaysia insisted it is theirs.
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Members of the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate composed of Sultans Ibrahim Bahjin, Muedzul-Lail Tan Kiram, Mohammad Venizar Julkarnain Jainal Abirin, Muizuddin Jainal Abirin Bahjin and Phugdalun Kiram II, and Sulu Governor Dr Sakur Tan now Datu’ ShahBandar and designated Special Envoy of the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate. (Mindanao Examiner Photo) |
This was confirmed by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. who told lawmakers that he has decided to revive the North Borneo Bureau to uphold the country's claim to Sabah.
A report by ABS-CBN also quoted Locsin as telling members of the House Appropriations Committee that: “While we fiercely guard our waters, we are not forgetting our terrestrial domain. In pursuit of securing what is ours, I have decided to reactivate the North Borneo Bureau.”
“After realizing that the rest of us have almost forgotten our Sabah claim, casually designating it as another country’s territory, well we have not forgotten. This is one of several international disagreements we can afford to conduct in our best interest without any risk of loss of any kind for our country,” he said, adding, “Our honor is involved here.”
Locsin said there are also plans to revive both the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) and the Sabah claim.
“BIMP-EAGA, dormant for a while but it was agreed to revive it. Pretty much like even some of our special concerns like Sabah. That was, on our part, put on back burner which I never agreed with. But over the years, from one admin after another, starting with Cory Aquino, it was put in the back burner, but something happened this year. And if I may talk about this, when the press release was put out by the US embassy and they very casually referred to Sabah, Malaysia, and that was it. I blew my top,” Locsin shared, recalling an incident that happened in late July.
“I told (the US) embassy (to) take it down. Of course, they didn’t want to do it. So I accused them... And (US Secretary of State) Mike Pompeo said, 'Leave it to me. I will make sure to bring it down'.”
“Because that thing has been happening to us, that claim has always been there and we should have never allowed it to be dormant. But ... we have no control over that. But now, we are going to revive that bureau and make sure no one is allowed to question that claim without a challenge from us. That is part of Philippine history, especially of Philippine south,” the report further quoted Locsin as saying.
Sultanate of Sulu
The Sultanate of Sulu, founded in 1457, continues to lay claim to Sabah which it obtained from Brunei as a gift for helping put down a rebellion on Borneo Island. The British leased Sabah and transferred control over the territory to Malaysia after the end of World War II.
The Sulu Sultanate said it had merely leased North Borneo in 1878 to the British North Borneo Company for an annual payment of 5,000 Malayan dollars then, which was increased to 5,300 Malayan dollars in 1903.
The Sultanate of Sulu is believed to exist as a sovereign nation for at least 442 years. It stretches from a part of the island of Mindanao in the east, to Sabah, in the west and south, and to Palawan, in the north. But North Borneo was annexed by Malaysia in 1963 following a referendum organised by the Cobbold Commission in 1962, the people of Sabah voted overwhelmingly to join Malaysia.
Sabah is Ours
Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein repeatedly said his country will not recognise any foreign claim for Sabah, adding, it belongs to Malaysia and will always be part of the Federation. “We will not recognise, what more, meet any foreign claim for Sabah. At the same time, I want to categorically state here that Sabah is, and will always be, part of Malaysia,” Hussein said.
Hussein said that Malaysia also stopped paying cession money to the heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu and that Kuala Lumpur made an understanding with the Philippines that the claim by the Sultanate of Sulu over the mineral-rich state of Sabah will not be raised at any regional or international platform.
“Malaysia and the Philippines have an understanding that the claim over Sabah will not be raised at any regional or international platform,” he said, adding, they also stopped paying annual cession money of RM5,300 (about P61,300) through lawyers representing the nine heirs of the Sulu Sultanate since 2013.
He said the payments were made based on a treaty signed on January 22, 1878, between the then Sultan of Sulu, Sultan Jamal Al Alam and Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent of the British North Borneo Company. “Apart from the payments to the heirs of the Sulu Sultanate, Malaysia has never made any payment to the Philippine government,” Hussein said in a written reply to Chang Foon Hin (PH-Kota Kinabalu), uploaded on the Parliament website, according to a report by Bernama.
It said Chang wanted to know if the Malaysian government planned to stop paying the cession money to the Sulu Sultanate through the Philippine government as a measure to end foreign interference in Malaysia’s sovereignty, and instead utilise the money to solve the issue of illegal Filipino immigrants entering Sabah, just several hours by boat from the Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi. “Until now, the claim on Sabah has only been raised by those who claim to be descendants of the Sulu Sultanate,” he said.
Cession Money Insulting, Pittance
But Sulu Governor Sakur Tan (also called Datu Shabandar), who is the Special Envoy of the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate, said the cession money that Malaysia pays annually to the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu was insulting. “The amount is insulting anyway, you can never change history,” he told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Even Nur Misuari, chieftain of the Moro National Liberation Front, previously said that what Malaysia pays to the Sultanate of Sulu (and North Borneo), was but a pittance.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s former Spokesman and now Chief Legal Counsel, Salvador Panelo, said the government has not abandoned its claim on Sabah. Panelo reiterated Duterte’s position that he would pursue the Philippines’ claim to Sabah. “The position of the President, meron tayong claim. Eh totoo namang may claim tayo di ba? That has been a bone of contention ever since,” he said.
Sultan Ibrahim Q. Bahjin-Shakirullah II said North Borneo is an inextricable part and parcel of the Sultanate of Sulu.
He said the Sultanate of Sulu asserts its position on the following: 1.) The Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo was never lawfully ceded to the Republic of the Philippines, and therefore remains a sovereign and independent state; 2.) The stipulation in the Deed of 1878 that the lessees of North Borneo shall administer the territory for “as long as they choose or desire to use them” places it in the category of a “perpetual lease”, effective for 100 years under international law. The contract of lease has therefore expired and possession over North Borneo should now be exercised by the Sultanate of Sulu, its rightful owner. And 3.) The heirs of Jamalul Kiram II do not have private ownership of Sabah. The territory continues to be owned by the Sultanate of Sulu, and not any private person.
In view of the history of the Sultanate and the circumstances surrounding the lease of Sabah, he said: “We desire the recognition of the independent statehood and sovereignty of the Islamic Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo.”
But Sultan Muedzul-Lail Tan Kiram, who claims to be the 35th Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo, said his grandfather, Sultan Mohammad Esmail Enang Kiram, who was recognized by the Philippine government in 1957, “transferred the rights of North Borneo under the government of President Diosdado Macapagal in 1962.”
Kiram said his father, Sultan Mohammad Mahakuttah Abdulla Kiram, and he, being the Crown Prince of Sulu, confirmed the transfer of the rights of North Borneo to the Philippine government and this was made official through Memorandum Order No. 427 issued by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1974.
“We aspire for an amicable solution to the predicament that affects us all in this region,” Kiram said, adding, “The Royal House of Sulu firmly believes that diplomacy will allow us to move forward as governments and other parties involved play a crucial role from alleviating our people from poverty.”
The two are only among the 5 recognized sultans in Sulu. The others are Sultans Mohammad Venizar Julkarnain Jainal Abirin, Muizuddin Jainal Abirin Bahjin and Phugdalun Kiram II.
Tan recently met with all the sultans who comprised the Royal Council of the Sulu Sultanate and they agreed to “speak on a common voice on issues concerning the Sultanate.” (Mindanao Examiner)
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