Kiram II installed, crowned sultan Saturday

From the Daily Tribune (Feb 4): Kiram II installed, crowned sultan Saturday

Sultan Phugdalon Kiram II will be officially installed and crowned as 35th Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo during simple spiritual ceremony on Saturday.

Abraham Idjirani, secretary general and spokesman of the Royal Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, said that “spiritual installation” and crowning of Sultan Phugdalon is in accordance with centuries-old royal protocols.

“His installation follows two historic protocols — the 600-year-old Royal Genealogy and the Law and Order of Succession,” Idjirani told the Tribune.

Prior to his ascension to the Sulu crown, Sultan Phugdalon II was known as Datu Phugdal.

“He adopted the name of his great grandfather, Sultan Phugdalon to clear out the claims of pseudo claimants to the royal lineage of Sultan Phugdalon I,” said Idjirani.

Sultan Phugdalon ruled the Royal Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo from 1844 to 1862.

There are several claimants to the throne of Sultanate of Sulu, which claims ownership of Sabah.

Idjirani said that Sultan Phugdalon Kiram II will continue the sultanate’s claim over Sabah.

“Sultan Phugdalon Kiram II assured the Bangsa Suluk and the Filipino nation that he will pursue the case of Sabah in conformity with the decree of their late father Sultan Punjungan Kiram and the expectation of the entire nation,” said Idjirani.

In 2013, more than 200 members of the Royal Security Forces, led by Rajah Mudah Agbimmudin Kiram, the crown prince, laid siege on Sabah to reclaim ownership of the oil-rich territory from Malaysia.

The standoff led to a bloody confrontation that ending in the killing of dozens of RSF fighters and Malaysian troops. Agbimmudin Kiram escaped from Sabah and died months later in Tawi Tawi due to illness. Sultan Esmael Kiram II became the crown prince and assumed as 34th sultan following the death of Sultan Jamalul Kiram II.

Sultan Esmail, however, died months later due to kidney ailment, passing the crown to Sultan Phugdalon Kiram II, who is married to former Hadja Nawal Tan, a cousin of Sulu Vice Gov. Abdusakur Tan.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/nation/kiram-lll-installed-crowned-sultan-saturday