If I am asked by an Australian to explain what is
going on in Lahat Datu I know not what to tell them. What can I say? That the
Sultan of Sulu wants Sabah back? That the Government of Malaysia claims Sabah
as theirs because it has never failed to pay the rent due. So what happens, the
Australians will ask me, if the landlord wants his property back? I got no
answer to that one! Of course there are other issues pertaining to this
situation but it is always a tale of human greed and avarice. And the
Sultan of Sulu is himself human is he not?
All of us, in our hearts of hearts know that the
Sultan of Sulu has a case to be heard and our Malaysian government has to deal
with – if they had not dealt with it
a long time ago, then now!
We also know in our hearts of hearts that Sabah is a
sovereign state within Malaysia.
Sending soldiers into Sabah is not the thing to do
unless nothing else has worked for the Sultan of Sulu – and even then it is
debatable. But it seems that nothing has worked – not from the Philippines
Government side nor from the Malaysian side. So what is that Sultan to do but
send in the Marines!
So we now have the situation that Sabah is now in
today.With hindsight all this would not have had to happened
– but our Prime Minister and his Barisan Nasional government has need of many
things – hindsight being one of many! What is more worrying is that this is
another excuse for our people to widen the divide already in place from the
racial and religious stand point.
I have read and posted on this blog many diverging
points of view and opinions on what is happening in Lahat Datu so that we can
read them and be empowered to make our own decisions. Some of these comments
are admittedly skewered towards what the writer’s inclinations are but most of
them are just another point of view of a situation that all of us wished would
not have happened.
But happened it did. Apart from a military solution to
this armed invasion from the Sultan of Sulu on Sabah, you and I know that political capital is busily been
made by Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat. Capital that could and will be
used to great and devastating effect in the coming 13th general
elections. No amount of indignation on our part will stop these politicians
from using the Lahat Datu situation to their advantage. That is the nature of our
politicians – any politicians.
Now our natural instinct is to not want war, not want
deaths from this war and certainly for peace to reign. This will not happen
until we accept that any Malaysian government will have to settle the matter
with the Sultan of Sulu with the assistance of the Philippines government - settle it amicably and fairly so that
hostility will cease permanently. If that Sultan can send 200 to 300 of his
‘soldiers’ to Sabah, he will come to the negotiating table from a position of relative
strength. Let us hope that this UMNO led Barisan Nasional government will not
handle/manage this Sabah issue the way it handles Bersih and any form of
dissent from those oppose to them
- by brute force and physical intimidation. This approach will not work
where those involved in the struggle with this Barisan Nasiional government
‘berani mati’ – as the followers of this Sulu Sultan has demonstrated and our
soldiers and government has understood only too well.
For now I think this will matter will not be settled
in the very near future – at least not in time for the 13th general election
to proceed without parts of Sabah not being put under an ‘emergency’ situation.
And you and I know that a general election will have to be put on hold if this
is so. And so the world turns….
1) The Sulu claim is not justifiable
ReplyDeleteNOW
2) The "terrorists" that is waging the guerrilla warfare had roots from the MNLF fraction - which was trained y Malaysian in Sabah soil, previously to fight against Manila government
3) It is more like a boomerang - the frankenstein you created that will come back to destroy you
4) It is also due to Mahathir "Project IC" diving hundred of thousands to the Sulu/Suluk that diluted Sabahan non-Muslim to allow bumiputras to UMNO to win the election
6) And now you want to say to ask UMNO to resolve this matter? How ironic and how absurd!
what's this, dirtying already muddy waters ??
ReplyDeleteUMNO MEDIA ZOOMS in on Jamalul Kiram: He is a fake Sulu sultan - family insider
KUALA LUMPUR- Jamalul Kiram III, who is masquerading as the sultan of Sulu and whose followers have intruded into Sabah and killed Malaysian police personnel, cannot lay claim to the defunct title, according to a source familiar with the goings-on in the family.
It is, therefore, wrong for him to assert to be the heir to the last sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram II, who died in 1936.
Jamalul Kiram III was never a legitimate descendant of the nine "rightful heirs" of Jamalul Kiram II that was drawn up in the 1939 'Macaskie Judgement' to be eligible to receive cession payments, following the ceding of Sabah, then known as North Borneo, to the British North Borneo Company (BNBC).
The source, who has indepth knowledge of the Sulu "sultanate" household and its history, stressed that according to the family tree, although Jamalul Kiram III was a member of the household, he was never a descendent of the nine principal heirs who had the right to the cession payments.
"When Jamalul Kiram II died in 1936, he left no direct heir, and BNBC also stopped the cession payments. So, the nine had gone to court as a group to recognise their right to receive the annual payment," the source said.
In 1939, the Chief Justice of the High Court of North Borneo, Justice Macaskie, ruled in the heirs' favour and the annual payment resumed. The Malaysian Government has continued with the payment, following the formation of the federation.
In 2011, descendants of the nine principal heirs to Jamalul Kiram II obtained an order from a Sulu court to recognise them as the legitimate direct descendents to the nine principal heirs.
This second generation of the heirs are Dayang Dayang Piandao Taj-Mahal Kiram-Tarsum Nuqui, Putli Nurhima Kiram-Forman, Siti Ayesha K.H Sampang, Sulatan Fuad A. Kiram, Dayang-Dayang Sheramar T. Kiram, Princess Permaisuri Kiram Guerson and Sitti Jenny K.A Sampang.
"As such, he (Jamalul Kiram III) cannot claim to be an heir or descendent of any of the nine principal heirs," the source contended.
-- Bernama
Somebody (probably a lawyer) in Philippines wrote this in the Phillippines Inquirer:
ReplyDeleteICJ judgement on the Ligitan & Sipadan dispute between Malaysia & Indonesia.
Judge Frank agrees with the judgement of the court and with its reasoning.
He adds, however that the Philippine application is also barred by a supervening legal principle the
right of non-self-governing people to exercise their right of self-determination.
This right has been confirmed by treaties, judgments of this Court and resolutions of the General Assembly.
It is, quite simply, pre-eminent in modern international law.
In the instance of North Borneo’s decolonization, Judge Franck believes,
this right was implemented in 1963 through elections observed by the representative of
the United Nations Secretary-General, who certified the FAIRNESS and CONCLUSIVENESS of the popular choice made by
the voters in favour of federation with Malaysia.
This was acted upon by the United Nations General Assembly’s Committee on Non-Self-Governing Territories.
In Judge Franck’s view, the Court is bound to take judicial notice of the momentous international legal
development brought about by the adoption and implementation of the right of self-determination.
Accordingly, WHATEVER INTEREST THE PHILIPPINE MIGHT HAVE INHERITED FROM SULTAN SULU – EVEN WERE IT TO BE
FULLY DEMONSTRABLE – cannot now be held to prevail over a validated exercise of so FUNDAMENTAL A RIGHT.
Since the claim is barred by law, the Philippines cannot possibly be said to have a legal interest in further ventilating it in this forum.
(page 208)
"The point of law is quite simple, but ultimately basic to the international rule of law.
It is this: historic title, no matter how persuasively claimed on the basis of old legal instruments and
exercises of authority, cannot - except in the most extraordinary circumstances -
prevail in law over the rights of non-self-governing people to claim independence and
establish their sovereignty through the exercise of bona fide self-determination."
(page 652)