Sabah twists and turns

As the French court ruled for Malaysia to compensate the heirs of the Sulu Sultanate, the issue of who should benefit from the huge $14.9 billion windfall becomes a bit complicated based on the claims presented.

Aside from the 500 or so families who are members of the nine clans recognized in the 1939 Macaskie Judgement on the recognized heirs, another warrior clan has stepped forward to stake half of Sabah ownership based on documents provided by former presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo.

Lawyers representing the Sangkalang and Angging clan, who were supposedly descendants of Generals Nakudas Sangkalang and Angging who led 600 Tausug warriors sent by the Sultan of Sulu to help the Sultan of Brunei to quell a 1704 rebellion, wrote President Fidel Ramos on 15 February 1993 notifying the government of the claim for half of Sabah.

“On 21 February 1962, as an heir of Nakuda Sangkalang, Atty. Assad Usman Sr. filed a claim of ownership by the heirs of Sangkalang and Angging over one-half of Sabah with the Department of Foreign Affairs,” according to the letter.

Previous to Panelo providing Daily Tribune with the documents, there was no specific mention of both generals on verbal or written statements related to Sabah.

The Gamaliel G. Bongco and Associates Law Offices, which represented the claimants, nonetheless, indicated that on 29 February 1968, Foreign Affairs Secretary Narciso Ramos brought the Sangkalang claim to Sabah.

A recounting of the events showed that the descendants of the two generals, who are brothers, were invited by the Sultan of Brunei to stay in Sabah, “giving to them one-half of the territory and the other half to the Sultan of Sulu.”

The letter went that in 1715, the Sultan of Sulu expressly recognized the ownership by Nakudas Sangkalang and Angging over one-half of Sabah.

“In 1979, the Sultan of Sulu, H.E. Sultan Mahakuttah Kiram, again expressly recognized in a written Omnibus Agreement the proprietary rights of the heirs,” it added.

It continued that although the Sultan of Sulu did not take physical possession of his onehalf share of Sabah, Nakudas Sangkaland and Angging and their descendants have since then up to the present occupied a portion of their one-half share of Sabah.

The presence of many Filipinos in Sabah was attributed to the lineage of the brother generals.

Sangkalang and Angging, based on the retelling in the letter, were not consulted when Sultan of Sulu Jamal Al Alam leased the whole of Sabah to British government representative Baron de Overbeck and the British North Borneo Company’s Alfred Dent. What is now considered Malaysia was a British colony then.

As a result of being bumped off the deal, the descendants of the generals revolted against the British forces which occupied the portion of Sabah awarded to them.

“The descendants led by cousins Hadji Usman bin Sangkalang and Matsalleh bin Angging, however, were not successful. Hadji Usman was imprisoned but went on self-exile to Sulu, while Matsalleh was captured and killed by the British in 1900. Matsalleh, whose monument now stands in Sabah, is considered a national hero,” it explained. Many of the

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thatthePhilippine government be involved in resolving the identity of the beneficiaries of the French tribunal ruling as the first step toward the settlement of the Sabah question.

“It is necessary that the Philippine government be involved in resolving the identity of the beneficiaries of the French tribunal ruling.