Muslims condemn ‘sellout’ to Malaysia
By Christine F. Herrera | Posted on Mar. 07, 2013
SOME 300 militant student activists, women and indigenous people joined their Muslim brothers and sisters in the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy in accusing President Aquino of “selling out” the Sultanate of Sulu to Malaysia.
The protesters stormed Mendiola near Malacanang and denounced the President for committing treason as he allegedly did nothing when the Malaysian forces attacked the Filipinos in Sabah.
“(The President) essentially gave the green light to the Malaysian government to proceed and massacre the Filipinos in Sabah. This is unforgivable, blood is (in) his hands,” Vencer Crisostomo, Anakbayan chairman, said.
“The Aquino administration should share the liability for the bloody end of the standoff in Sabah for its noynoying on the grievances of Filipinos,” Kabataan President Terry Ridon said.
Members of the PCID, Anakbayan, Kabataan, Migrante, Katribu, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Bayan Muna, Gabriela and Kadamay marched to Mendiola around 10:30 a.m., with Muslim women dressed in abaya and hijab as frontliners to air their protests.
Yusuf Ledesma, co-convenor of PCID, said they would seek the intervention of the United Nations and the United States.
“Masakit ang aming kalooban,” Sharif Juhur Hali of the Islamic Directorate of the Philippines said over the alleged mishandling of the crisis.
Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano chided the Foreign Affairs Department for agreeing with Malaysia to tag the Filipino Muslims who sailed to Sabah as ‘terrorists.’
The country’s claim over the disputed territory is historically, politically, and legally legitimate,” Gary Martinez of Migrante International said.
Makabayan senatorial candidate and Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño urged the House to immediately investigate the Executive’s mishandling of the Philippine claim on Sabah.
House Assistant Minority Leader Rep. Ferdinand Romualdez described the Aquino administration as a “failure” in addressing the Sabah crisis.
Romualdez added that the past administrations, even in the payment of “blood money” for Filipino convicts, has been condoned in order to save the Filipinos and that should be no different under the incumbent administration.
“The administration should do everything in its power to prevent any deaths or bloodshed,” he said.
Muslims condemn
Sulu sultan denounces terrorist tag by Malaysia
By Ferdinand Fabella | Posted on Mar. 07, 2013
Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III on Wednesday slammed Malaysia for branding his followers in Sabah as terrorists after Malaysian security forces launched a wave of attacks aimed at driving the Filipino contingent out of the town of Lahad Datu.
“Terrorists? We own Sabah. Would you call someone a terrorist if he only wants to live in his land? If he lives in his own house? If he protects his property?” the ailing 74-year-old sultan said in Taguig City residence.
The state-owned Bernama news agency earlier quoted Malaysian officials describing the sultanate’s forces as “armed terrorists” and said Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario shared this view.
The Palace quickly denied that Del Rosario had called the Filipinos terrorists, saying he only agreed that the act of ambushing and killing Malaysian policemen could be considered “terroristic acts.”
Kiram said his brother Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram and his 215-man contingent in the disputed Sabah could not be described as terrorists because they are well within their rights to stake their claim on the resource-rich region.
Kiram said the terrorists were the Malaysian security forces that are using disproportionate force, including fighter aircraft and artillery against the lightly armed “royal army.”
Kiram also denied that his followers beheaded one of the Malaysian policemen during an encounter in Lahad Datu.
“They were trained only to defend themselves and fight in accordance to the laws of Allah and man,” the sultan said.
He said he last talked with his brother late Tuesday night who told him they are in good condition and have not suffered any casualties, contradicting Malaysian reports.
Kiram’s daughter Princess Jacel said calling them “terrorists” was unacceptable.
“We are not terrorists…. We are the landlords of North Borneo asking the squatter tenants to vacate the leased property. The Philippine government’s insensitive stand on the Sultanate of Sulu’s aspiration to settle and reclaim their homeland has emboldened Prime Minister Najib Razak to give the order and initiate a violent and barbaric offensive attack against Rajah Mudda’s group,” she said.
Princess Jacel also questioned the effectiveness of Del Rosario’s visit to Kuala Lumpur over the weekend, asking how the crisis could be resolved peacefully when the sultanate was deliberately left out of the talks.
Del Rosario on Wednesday took responsibility for the misplaced letter that the sultan had sent President Benigno Aquino III I June 2010.
President Aquino had earlier admitted that the letter – which asked that the Sulu Sultanate be consulted on Malaysian-brokered peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front – had been “lost in the bureaucratic maze.”
“Since years later the so-called missing letter was found in the DFA under the principle of command of responsibility, the buck stops with me,” Del Rosario said in a text message.
But the sultan’s spokespersons dismissed Del Rosario’s admission as being “too late,” given that the standoff in Sabah had turned violent.
“Why only now? And now that they have it [the letter], what’s next? We’ve been asking the Philippine government to at least talk to us, but they haven’t,” said Fatima Kiram, wife of the sultan.
The sultanate’s spokesman, Abraham Idjirani, agreed.
“I don’t know what good it will do now,” he said.
The letter had also asked the newly elected Aquino to discuss the Sabah claim with the Malaysian government during meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
It also reiterated that the authority given to the Philippine government to claim the disputed territory was revoked by the sultanate in 1989.
In General Santos City, President Benigno Aquino III said the Kirams had turned over their proprietary claims over Sabah to the government in 1968.
The President also ruled out the possibility of the Philippines going to war over the unsettled Sabah claim, despite the death of 23 Filipinos near the town of Lahad Datu.
The President recalled that the country almost went into war with Malaysia, adding that one newspaper even headlined that the Philippines has enough ammunition to last for a six-day battle.
“So if we look at the Sabah problem, the question becomes this: is the interest of the Kirams also the interest of the country? Naturally, both are our concerns. But I have been thinking — where did the problem start? Did not the problem begin from the end of the Kirams when they leased Sabah to the British?”
“If they have a problem with their lease agreement, and if we have interest on this, it should be resolved peacefully. If their past agreement had mistakes, then we should correct this. But we are not advocating violence,” the President added.
In 1963, the Philippines broke ties with Malaysia after it included Sabah in its territory.
In 1967, an attempt to land Filipino commandos on Sabah under “Operation Merdeka” was aborted after all commandos but one were killed. The lone survivor of the carnage, Jibin Arula, revealed what was eventually known as the Jabidah massacre.
The President said the Sabah conflict had now turned into “a propaganda war.”
“Are the suggestions of some people for us to support those in Sabah who are armed (group of Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram) correct?” he said. “The relationship between the Philippines and Malaysia has been colored by this Sabah issue. Let us not forget the proprietary rights that the Sulu sultanate has turned over to the government is not yet too clear. But in their conflict with Malaysia, we all get dragged into it,” the President said.
Moro National Liberation Front founding chairperson Nur Misuari earlier blasted Mr. Aquino for
“siding with the enemy of his people.”
“What kind of leader are you when you abandon your people?” Misuari said. “If the President has nothing to say, he should not open his mouth anymore.”
“What he has done is very bad,” he added. “It is unbecoming for a head of state to be siding with the enemy of his own people. These are his own people. I don’t know who is advising him and for what reason. He is aligning this country with Malaysia, a colonial power occupying the land of our people. I am against that.” With Joyce P. Pañares and Rey E. Requejo
Sulu sultan denounces terrorist tag by Malaysia - Manila Standard Today
What Marcos failed to achieve…
By Ramon Tulfo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Malaysia ordered air strikes and mortar attacks against 200 men sent by the Sultan of Sulu to occupy a coastal village in Sabah.
Malaysia will regret its action because it was tantamount to declaring war against the Tausugs, the fiercest of Philippine Muslim tribes.
Ironically, it was Malaysia that helped the Tausugs fight the government of President Marcos in the 1970s and ’80s.
* * *
Nur Misuari, founding chair of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that waged war against the government, is back in the limelight after many years in oblivion.
He warned President Noy that any attempt to arrest Sultan Jamalul Kiram III would result in “total chaos” for the country.
Misuari, who has royal blood, has the backing of the long dormant MNLF, its members spoiling for a fight.
Better for our government to let the Tausugs fight the Malaysians in Sabah, which they claim is their homeland, rather than fight the Tausugs in the country.
* * *
Ironically, it was P-Noy’s mother, the late President Cory Aquino, who brought Misuari back to the country from a self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia.
Misuari was already a forgotten figure among his people when “Tita” Cory, upon the advice of her brother-in-law, Butz Aquino, and then Interior Secretary Aquilino Pimentel, recalled him from oblivion.
President Noy is now suffering from his mother’s wrong decision.
* * *
There is no way Misuari had no hand in the dispatch of 200 men to Sabah by the Sultan of Sulu.
Sultan Kiram doesn’t have men and arms to back up his claim of ownership of the former North Borneo island—the MNLF has.
Kiram doesn’t have the money to launch a large-scale expedition to Sabah.
My sources close to the sultanate told me that even before Kiram sent his men to Lahad Datu, about 2,500 armed Tausugs had already been prepositioned in Sabah.
During the standoff or before the attack on Lahad Datu by Malaysian security forces, 150 armed Tausugs from Palawan province were able to land in Sabah.
An additional 600 Tausugs landed in Sabah last week, according to my sources.
The men who landed in different areas in Sabah are being harbored by their fellow Tausugs in the former North Borneo.
There are 800,000 Filipinos, mostly Tausugs from Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, who are in Sabah.
Let’s do some Math: 2,500 plus 150 plus 600 equals a very formidable fighting force of combat-savvy Tausug veterans.
We’re not even counting the number of armed Tausugs who came to Sabah in small numbers before Sultan Kiram brought his men to Lahad Datu.
What President Marcos failed to achieve in 1969, the MNLF just might succeed in taking Sabah this time around.
* * *
So who is (are) behind Sultan Kiram’s decision to send an expedition to Sabah?
Apart from Misuari, what about the Sultan of Brunei?
The Sultan of Brunei has an interest in Sabah because it used to belong to the Sultanate of Brunei.
In the 1600s, the Sultan of Brunei faced a revolt by some of his men and sought the help of the Sultan of Sulu in quelling the rebellion.
The Sultan of Brunei, out of gratitude for the Sulu Sultanate’s help, gave away to the latter North Borneo, which was then part of his kingdom. This is what we now know as Sabah.
In 1878, the Sultan of Sulu leased North Borneo to the British North Borneo Company. The Malaysian government, which inherited Sabah from the British, continues to pay rent to the Sultanate of Sulu.
What Marcos failed to achieve
