Sulu sultanate intalls Kiram’s replacement

From the Daily Tribune (Sep 26): Sulu sultanate intalls Kiram’s replacement

The Royal Sultanate of Sulu will formally install today Sultan Phugdalun Kiram II as the 35th Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo.

Abraham Idjirani, spokesman and secretary general of the Sultanate of Sulu, said that simple ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. in Kasulutan Village, Jolo for the formal installation of Sultan Phugdalun Kiram II.

Sultan Phugdalun ascended to the throne after the death of Sultan Esmail Kiram II last week in Zamboanga City due to illness.

“The official coronation of Sultan Phugdalun will be held after the 40th day of prayer for the late Sultan Esmail Kiram,” Idjirani said.

According to Idjirani, the change of sultan will not affect the sultanates claim over Sabah.

In fact, he said that among the last wishes of the late Sultan Esmail Kiram II was for the clan to unite and pursue the claim on Sabah through peaceful means.

The Sultanate of Sulu gained the headlines in 2013 after more than 200 fighters of the Royal Security Forces (RSF) laid siege over Lahad Datu in Sabah.

Led by the late Rajah Muda Agbimmudin Kiram, the RSF fighters engaged Malaysian forces in weeks of fighting that resulted in the killing of dozens of Filipino-Tausugs and Malaysian troopers.

Agbimmudin Kiram managed to elude Malaysian forces but died of heart attack months later in Tawi-Tawi.

The siege by RSF was approved by the late Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, who died of illness in October 2014.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/nation/sulu-sultanate-intalls-kiram-s-replacement