The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper
Malaysia ceases paying Sultanate of Sulu
‘Rejects claims by Sulu Sultans and Philippines over Sabah’
MALAYSIAN FOREIGN Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein bared that his country has 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.
Hishammuddin said recognise and entertain over Sabah, as the state Malaysia also did not any claim by any party
had been recognised as being part of Malaysia by the United Nations, as well as the international community.
“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 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,” Hishammuddin 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.
Sultanate of Sulu
In February 2013, Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III sent 200 armed followers led by his younger brother Raja Muda Azzimudie Kiram, 74, to Sabah in an effort to exert his claim over the territory.
Malaysia branded the action as an invasion and launched a deadly air and land assaults against the invaders, armed with automatic rifles and machetes. Kuala Lumpur 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.
The Aquino government tried to resolve the problems peacefully with Malaysia and persuaded Kiram’s group to return home following weeks of standoff with Kuala Lumpur, but it failed. Sultan Muhammad Fuad Abdulla Kiram I and Sultan Esmail Kiram were also involved in the negotiations with the Philippine government.
The young Kiram and his army landed in Lahad Datu town to reclaim the former territory, but many from his group were slain in the fighting with Kiram nearly killed until his daring escape back to Sulu province where he eventually died of old age in the village of Tubig Indanan.
The elder Kiram also died from a lingering illness at age 75 in October 2013, at the height of the fighting between their loyal forces and Malaysian soldiers.
Up to now, the Sultanate of Sulu 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.
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.
No Way
In 2016, Malaysia vowed to defend the sovereignty of Sabah following remarks made by President Rodrigo Duterte that the oil-rich state – home to about half a million Filipinos – belongs to the Sultanate of Sulu.
The Malaysia Digest reported that Duterte was quoted by Philippine media that he will never abandon the Sulu Sultanate’s quest to stake its claim on Sabah. “We are allowing proprietary heirs to talk (with Malaysia). Since it is part of our claim, it will be there as our land,” Duterte was quoted as saying. “What has been the policy will always be the policy of the government especially those for the interest of the country. We have to stake our claim.”
But then Malaysian Prime Minister Da¬tuk Seri Najib Tun Razak vowed to defend every inch of Sabah’s sovereignty. Malaysian media quoted Najib as saying that no one can stake a claim on Sabah that had gained its independence through Malaysia with the agreement of the United Nations in 1963.
The findings of the Cobbold Commission reflected the wishes of the people and this was accepted by the international community, he said.
“As such, no group can make any claim on Sabah,” Najib said in a report by The Star.
Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman earlier said that the state will remain part of Malaysia and had never recognized any claim by the Philippines on the issue.
The report quoted Najib as saying that Malaysia is committed towards defending Sa¬-bah from any threat and urged its citizens to be the eyes and ears of the security forces.
Sabah is Ours
Even after North Borneo became part of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur still paid an annual rent of at least 5,300 ringgit to the heirs of the recognized Sultan of Sulu Ismail Kiram until Hishammuddin’s announcement that they ceased paying the cession money.
And in 2019, then Duterte’s spokesman, Salvador Panelo, said the Philippines has not abandoned its claim on Sabah after Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s statement that “there was no claim” to the disputed territory.
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. (Mindanao Examiner)