Royal Sultanate Force beats war drum

From the Mindanao Examiner blog site (Mar 28): Royal Sultanate Force beats war drum

Members of the Royal Security Force of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo have warned Manila on Friday that violence may erupt in the southern Philippines if President Benigno Aquino fails to support their long-standing historical claim on the island of Sabah which is now part of Malaysia.

In a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner, General Panglima, who claims to be a leader of the so-called Royal Security Force, accused the Aquino government of ignoring claims by the Sultanate of Sulu to reclaim Sabah, whose historical name was Borneo.

“Nananawagan kami sa pamahalaan na sana po gawin nila o hanapan na lang ng paraan ang isyu na ito at huwag naman nila ito isantabi. One year na kami sa giyera at naghihintay mula ng sumiklab ang gulo sa Sabah noon February 2013 at 2014 na ngayon ay wala pa rin action ang pamahalaan ukol dito sa Sabah claim,” General Panglima said.

In February last year, the ailing Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, of the Sultanate of Sulu, sent about 200 followers headed by his brother Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram to Sabah to exert their claim and historical rights over the island, which is also being claimed by Malaysia.

Sultan Jamalul’s group has rejected Malaysian demand for them to surrender peacefully and a fighting erupted in Lahad Datu town where more than 60 of the sultan’s men had been killed and over 300 Filipinos arrested on suspicion they were supporting or aiding the group of Raja Muda Agbimuddin.

Malaysia also put Sultan Jamalul and his brother on its wanted list and branded them as terrorists for intruding into Sabah and killing and decapitating 10 policemen and soldiers in separate clashes on the island.

Raja Muda Agbimuddin managed to escape the Malaysian assault in Sabah, while Sultan Jamalul died in October last year from a lingering illness at age 75.

General Panglima also said that Manila failed or refused to help sultanate members and Filipinos illegally detained in Sabah in connection to the fighting last year.

“Binalewala nila ang aming isyu (sa Sabah). Masakit man sa amin na pumanaw na ang mahal namin pinuno na si Sultan Jamalul Kiram III at hindi rin sila nakinig. Kung kaya’t gulo lang ang gusto nilang pag-usapan o pakinggan ng pamahalaan, kaya din namin gumawa ng malaking gulo o karahasan sa buong Mindanao kahit na minamaliit pa nila ang aming puwersa o grupo kaya nananawagan kami sa pamahalaan na tulungan kaming hanapan ng paraan ang isyu ma ito. Magtulungan at magkaisa tayo at laban na ito para sa buong Pilipino, Kristiyano at Muslim ay magkapatid at iisang dugo,” he said.

The threats came following the signing of the peace agreement between the Philippines and the country’s largest Muslim rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front which Malaysia has brokered.

The Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo continues to lay claim to Sabah. It obtained Sabah from Brunei as a gift for helping put down a rebellion on the Borneo Island. The British leased Sabah and transferred control over the territory to Malaysia after the end of World War II.

But 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 was founded in 1457 and 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. 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.

Malaysia continued paying an annual stipend of 5,300 ringgits to the Sulu sultanate on the basis of the sultanate ceding the Borneo state.

http://www.mindanaoexaminer.net/2014/03/royal-sultanate-force-beats-war-drum.html