Sabah Right Now
Najib on TV said outsiders cannot come into Sabah until all the followers of the Sultan are wiped out. No PH journalists, mercy missions, or rescue missions are allowed either.
Malaysia turned down a request for unilateral ceasefire, continuing the house to house searches and defying even the UN call for peaceful dialogue, saying his patience has rum out.
This mosquito infested territory, rich in timber, oil and gas, is a recurring page in a drama that pulls two countries apart each time the issue of sovereignty or proprietary rights are claimed by the heirs. The old War Refugee Camps set up by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees of War during the 1970s war between the MNLF and GPH, is now the scene of a showdown of wills between an impoverished Sultan and a Chief of State - one fighting for Honor, the other for s piece if real estate stolen from the landlord's honor.
Najib on TV said outsiders cannot come into Sabah until all the followers of the Sultan are wiped out. No PH journalists, mercy missions, or rescue missions are allowed either.
Malaysia turned down a request for unilateral ceasefire, continuing the house to house searches and defying even the UN call for peaceful dialogue, saying his patience has rum out.
This mosquito infested territory, rich in timber, oil and gas, is a recurring page in a drama that pulls two countries apart each time the issue of sovereignty or proprietary rights are claimed by the heirs. The old War Refugee Camps set up by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees of War during the 1970s war between the MNLF and GPH, is now the scene of a showdown of wills between an impoverished Sultan and a Chief of State - one fighting for Honor, the other for s piece if real estate stolen from the landlord's honor.
The last time I saw a similar fight was 15 years ago during a re-run of High Noon.
Knowing only full well, the often reckless bravery of the Tausug, they prefer to fight to the death only worthy opponents, and Malaysia does not stand a long term victory against the ant colony. Genocide is the only way to go.
Is it worth it? For Petronas and the Palm Oil industry it is. The life of a Tausug is not worthy of any consideration, afterall, not only are they the poorest of the poor in their own country, they suffer the same fate in Sabah, where many of them have remained stateless for generations.
Is it worth it? For Petronas and the Palm Oil industry it is. The life of a Tausug is not worthy of any consideration, afterall, not only are they the poorest of the poor in their own country, they suffer the same fate in Sabah, where many of them have remained stateless for generations.
So bring the tanks and the bombs while the audience cheers and harangues on the sidelines
A like of a helpless government that we have under our current (government) administration has nothing to do with what was happening now in Sabah. Our leaders of today are not that brilliant to learned the history of this Country and its territory! I think this government that we have at the present (the Aquino administration) can even give-up Mindanao 'so to speak' to the Malaysian for the sake of diplomatic relation! I think the Malaysian government has done more than what our present government has expected towards the peace process framework between the MILF & our government that in the process even the Scarborough Shoal can be claim by the Malaysian government, in return to what Malaysian government has done to this Aquino government.
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ReplyDeleteA jester in the Palace
ReplyDeleteAfter I read the report that the Department of Justice (DOJ) was preparing to file charges against Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and his men for the Sabah standoff, I laughed out loud till my belly ached.
If this columnist, who’s not a lawyer, doubled up in laughter at the DOJ move, you can just imagine how lawyers of average intelligence would have reacted to the Justice Department’s pea-brained action.
The DOJ is like the congressman in the 1960s who filed a bill outlawing typhoons.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who’s supposed to know better since she was a bar topnotcher, said Kiram and his men could be liable for 1) inciting to war, 2) illegal possession of firearms, 3) illegal assembly and violation of the gun ban imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
She said possible charges of rebellion are also being planned against Kiram and his group.
Earlier, President Noy said Kiram and his followers violated a provision in the Constitution that says that the government renounces war as an instrument of national policy.
Look, guys, Sultan Kiram didn’t violate any laws in the country!
The sultan didn’t incite his men to take up arms against our government.
The sultan’s men can never be charged with illegal possession of firearms because they’re carrying guns—if at all—outside the Philippines.
They can’t be charged with illegal assembly and violation of the election gun ban since they’re outside the Philippines.
The sultan’s men are in Sabah and therefore beyond the pale of Philippine laws.
Neither can the sultan and his men be charged with violating that provision in the Constitution that renounces war as an instrument of national policy since Kiram never declared war on Malaysia.
Kiram undertook the occupation of a tiny portion of Sabah as sultan of Sulu and not as a Filipino citizen.
The sultan’s followers violated Malaysian laws, but that’s Malaysia’s problem not ours.
Since when has the Philippines, a sovereign nation, become a “spokesnation” for Malaysia?
As Visayans would say, “Ay sus, Ginoo, naunsa na man ang inyong utok diha sa Malakanyang? (Oh, Lord, what happened to your brains there in Malacañang?)”
***
There’s a joke reportedly making the rounds among the Tausugs—people of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi who are subjects of the Sultanate of Sulu—that
P-Noy has become the spokesperson of the Malaysian prime minister.
Whenever the joke is told by one Tausug to another, I am told, they would laugh out loud.
Not at the joke, but at the President.
I mean no disrespect for the President, but he has turned himself into a clown in the Sabah standoff.
It’s better for him to keep quiet and let his people at the Department of Foreign Affairs do the talking on the Sabah issue.
***
As this was being written yesterday afternoon, there was a report of sporadic gunfire at Tanduao village in Lahad Datu town in Sabah.
Shots were reportedly fired between the Malaysian police and the sultan’s men.
Early reports said the Malaysian police retreated but came back.
The sultan’s men, who are probably members or former members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), are veteran fighters compared to Malaysian policemen who, until a few years ago, carried only nightsticks.
Between MNLF men used to years of fighting and Malaysian cops who only know how to handle nightsticks, who do you think will prevail?
By Ramon Tulfo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
‘Aquino lacks sense of history on Sabah issue’
ReplyDeleteThe policy adviser of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram 3rd lambasted President Benigno Aquino 3rd, saying that the latter lacked a sense of history of the Filipino Muslims, particularly in the context of the Sabah claim.
“The President does not know anything about the Sabah claim. His Secretary of Justice [Leila de Lima] and even his Secretary of Foreign Affairs [Albert del Rosario] also looked as if they do not know anything about the Sabah claim.
They did not even know who pursued the claims,” former gov. Al Tillah on Tawi-Tawi province said during a round table discussion organized by the Rotary Club of Makati Legazpi.
Tillah urged Aquino and the members of his Cabinet to read books about Filipino Muslims’ history to understand why the Kirams are still pursuing the Sabah claim.
“They better spend much of their time in the library reading history books. These people are making ugly comments on the Sabah issue. They do not know what they are talking about,” he said.
The former local official expressed his disappointment with the Aquino government, which is unsupportive to the objective of the sultanate in reclaiming Sabah.
The government, he pointed out, even threatened Kiram and his followers with criminal prosecution.
“They are speaking on the issue without thinking further and without getting the whole context of the territorial claim. Anong klaseng gobyerno natin ito [What kind of government is this]?” he said.
“He [President Aquino] has not spoken to the sultan of Sulu, who is a citizen of this country, but he talked to almost everyone in Malaysia,” he pointed out.
Tillah also questioned the decision of the Malaysian government rejecting a truce offered by the Sulu sultanate, despite the call from the United Nations (UN) for a ceasefire in Sabah.
“UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon agreed that there must be a ceasefire. I’m sad that Malaysia rejected it. They should have accepted it. Maybe we can talk now on a conference table instead of trading bullets,” he said.
Tillah also said that it’s about time for Malaysia to give Sabah back to the sultanate of Sulu.
“Sa atin naman talaga ang Sabah, hindi sa kanila e. Nakinabang na nga sila ng husto; it’s about time na makinabang naman ang mga Pilipino rito. So magsama-sama tayo dito [We are the real owners of Sabah, not the Malaysians. They had already benefited from it; it’s about time that we Filipinos benefit from that land. Let us be united for this cause],” Tillah said.
The Sabah conflict, he said, should be resolved before a world forum.
“The Sabah crisis is rooted historically in the just struggle of the sultanate through justice and the lofty ideals of the Muslim Filipinos. Any opinion to the contrary is null and void,” he said, adding that what is happening in Sabah is not a rebellion by the sultan, but a defense of their historic rights over the territory.
Tillah reiterated that the sultanate did not cede Sabah to the British North Borneo Co. after the territory was awarded to the Sulu sultanate by the sultan of Brunei.
The sultanate claimed that the disputed island of Sabah has only been leased to the Malaysian government through an 1878 lease agreement with British firm.
According to Tillah, the Malaysian government only pays the sultanate P70,000 yearly for the lease.
http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/news/nation/43089-aquino-lacks-sense-of-history-on-sabah-issue