"PAJAK" IN 1878 SABAH LEASE IS REALLY THE BONE OF CONTENTION; DOCUMENT FROM THE BRITISH COLONIAL OFFICE IN LONDON DATED 1ST NOV 1962 PROVES IT

"PAJAK" HAS BEEN THE BONE OF CONTENTION; ANOTHER DOCUMENT WHICH IS A LETTER FROM THE BRITISH COLONIAL OFFICE IN LONDON DATED 1ST NOV 1962

NOTE: This document is about the thorny word "Pajak" that was used in the translation of the Sabah lease agreement between the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo and the private foreign businessmen; note that even Tunku Abdul Rahman himself, "father of the Malaysia Federation," referred to "pajak" in the Sabah lease agreement of 1878 as "rent" but the officials of Kuala Lumpur tried to turn around the damage created by Tunku Abdul Rahman's announcement by insisting that the lease was a definitive cession. We are re-posting it to accompany the document unearthed (shown alongside pink-coloured document) in the British Foreign Office that we posted earlier on.

NB: Transcription of letter (for easier reading) is mine hence any and all errors of transcription are mine. ~~ Blog Administrator

 ~~~~~O~~~~~

CONFIDENTIAL

COLONIAL OFFICE
GREAT SMITH STREET, LONDON S.W.1
Telephone: [...] 1266 Ext.
1st November 1962

Dear [......]

                        In connection with the alleged Philippine "claim" to North Borneo there is one point on which we should be grateful for Kuala Lumpur's confidential advice.

                        In paragraph 1, of Kuala Lumpur telegram to Commonwealth Relations Office No. 625 of the 3rd September in connections with conversations with Ghangli and Ngah about the Tunku's unfortunate reference to a "lease" Ghangli is reported as saying that the Malay word used by the Tunku was "srwa" i.e. "lease" or "rent" and Ngah is reported as saying that he thought "pajak" and "pajakan" nowadays meant the same thing though originally they meant more as the Tunku with his knowledge of Kedah and Penang would realise ..........

                       As pajak" is the word in the Deed of Cession of 1878 from which all our present troubles appear to stem because of its alternative translations as "grant and cede" and "lease" we were most interested in Ngeh's remark and we should be grateful if Kuala Lumpur's advice could be sought on the original meaning of the malay words "pajak" and pajakan". This original meaning may perhaps be very helpful to us.

                      I am sending a copy of this letter to Cable.

Yours,

(signed) 

W.S. Carter

[Letter addressed to] D.C.R. RODCLIFF [???], ESQ.,
             Commonwealth Relations Office
                          Downing Street,
                               London, S.W.1.

  ~~~~~O~~~~~

 
NOTA BENE: The Philippine Sabah Claim Forum is grateful to HM Sultan Muedzul-Lail Tan Kiram for allowing us to avail of documents in his possession pertaining to PH Sabah claim.

 ~~~~~O~~~~~

Related post:
GOOD NEWS RE NORTH BORNEO/SABAH QUESTION ON THE FIRST DAY OF 2016

NORTH BORNEO/SABAH QUESTION - GOOD NEWS ON THE FIRST DAY OF 2016

GOOD NEWS RE NORTH BORNEO/SABAH QUESTION ON THE FIRST DAY OF 2016: 
We have just received the file (shown) from the Royal Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo which was unearthed in the British Foreign Office by the London-based Chancellor of HM Sultan Muedzul Lail T Kiram of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo (Sabah)... we will communicate the contents as soon as we receive all the copies of the file. It contains a full record of the 'concessions' pertaining to 'pajak' (lease) agreement in North Borneo made by the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo in the 19th century.
.

NB: JUST SO ALL MAY KNOW -- This is about gathering evidence to reinforce the claim of the Republic. It is about the arduous task of assembling documents that will help the Republic reinforce its claim. People are working hard free of charge to do this, spending their own money, time, effort to help gather evidence that will help reinforce the claim of the Republic. The people behind these arduous and painstaking tasks seek no glory nor recompense, financial or otherwise and will refuse any if offered... and we personally make a pledge that we refuse and will refuse any reward, award of WHATEVER NATURE if ever offered to us ... This is all being done for the glory of the Republic! ~~ Defenders of Philippine Sovereignty administrators

 

 

13 provinces at the altar of so-called peace: Is it worth dismembering the Republic to placate Kuala Lumpur?

"So we may all be clear: this so-called peace agreement or shared sovereignty rights over 13 provinces in Southern Mindanao with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is what it is - it is not a peace offering to the people of Southern Mindanao but a peace offering to the Barisan Nasional politicos and businessmen of Kuala Lumpur."

By Anne de Bretagne
For the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum
08 January 2014

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process is very upbeat today: "Malacañan is hopeful the normalization annex of the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement will be signed this month."

According to the Solar News report, Presidential Communication Secretary Sonny Coloma has announced that 'peace panels from both the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are now working on drafts and are also carrying out informal consultations on the annex prior to formal talks next week.'

My thoughts off the cuff:

I still don't understand why the Aquino Govt has deemed it wise to allow Malaysia with whom the Philippines has an outstanding territorial and sovereignty disputes to engineer a peace agreement in Southern Mindanao with a Kuala Lumpur-backed Muslim rebel faction that will entitle the same rebel group to lord it over 13 provinces in Southern Mindanao under the direct influence of Malaysia Federation. Can these people in Malacañan NOT SEE that they are authoring the potential dismemberment of the Republic in favour of Kuala Lumpur?

If they are truly for peace and are pro-Southern Mindanao, PH and its leaders should raise the Sabah claim flag today before another bloodbath occurs over this extremely lopsided deal that they are offering to the Southern Mindanao 'nation' through the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebel group. If at all, Mr Aquino and his peace subalterns should instead find an economic and political entente with Putrajaya by proposing an equitable deal involving Sulu rights to Sabah to directly benefit the people of Sulu and the other provinces in their proposed MILF-controlled Bangsamoro region. Mr Aquino and his lieutenants are forgetting that the Southern Mindanao "nation" does not comprise merely of 10,000 MILF rebels but of more than 5 million souls from various cultural, political and religious factions.

It is not just ironic, it is also immensely tragic that PH and leaders have decided that instead of facing Kuala Lumpur over the Sabah issue which, as we all know, has been the cause of all the violence and misery among our people in Southern Mindanao, they choose to placate Kuala Lumpur (which we all know has been at the forefront of all the troubles in Mindanao since 1972) by offering the 13 provinces of Southern Mindanao at the altar of "peace" with Malaysia.

So we may all be clear: this so-called peace agreement or shared sovereignty rights over 13 provinces in Southern Mindanao with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is what it is - it is not a peace offering to the people of Southern Mindanao but a peace offering to the Barisan Nasional politicos and businessmen of Kuala Lumpur.

BUT THE BIG QUESTION IS, is it worth dismembering the Republic to placate Kuala Lumpur over God knows what?

~~~~Õ~~~~

*Map shown was posted in 2012 by Malacañan Palace and can be viewed on PH Govt website with the following title: "Proposed Territory." This is a map highlighting the areas included in the proposed Bangsamoro Autonomous Political Entity." Click on this link to access map. 

Related blog posts:  

• GPH-MILF FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT: Is there a foreign conflict of interest? 
• Understanding the Sabah claim issue: It's all very simple actually: As Law Professor Isagani Cruz says, "President Noynoy faces an insoluble dilemma. If he believes that Sabah is part of the Philippines, he has to defend Sabah because Malaysia is attacking it. If he does not believe that Sabah is part of the Philippines, he opens himself up to impeachment, because Philippine law says that Sabah is part of the Philippines and he is sworn to uphold Philippine law. Talking of a conspiracy does not solve the problem; in fact, it is irrelevant if there is or there is no conspiracy. The dilemma has to do simply with his stand on Sabah itself."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Sultan Jamalul Kiram III has passed away

We have learned with profound sadness that HM Sultan Jamalul Kiram III passed away today 20 October 2013.

The Philippine Sabah Claim Forum, its founders, administrators, members, friends and supporters would like to express their heartfelt condolences to the family of Princess Jacel H. Kiram-Hasan for their loss and that of the Tausug people.

Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, the leader of the group of Sultanate royal forces who sailed to Sabah in February this year to stake their claim, was the visible face and voice of the nation's claim to Sabah. It was Sultan Jamalul who brought back the Republic's claim to Sabah to the fore when his loyal forces chose to do battle with Kuala Lumpur troops despite the hostility of the Philippine government early this year and despite overwhelming odds.

The nation has lost an admirable man, a formidable leader and a great proponent of the Philippine claim to Sabah who had said time and time again that Sabah belonged to the Philippine Republic and to the Filipino people.

May His Majesty rest in peace.

Fake Sulu sultan and fake grand prince of the Tausugs using UP students in attempt to legitimize sting operation

ATTENTION! TO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES:
We have just been informed that a group of charlatans headed by Datu Fuad Kiram and aided by his close-in handlers, are working hard, aiming 'high' in order to legitimise their sting operation and are exploiting the naivete of a UP student group: the UP Economics Society which is about to sponsor a symposium founded on the fraudulent claim by Datu Fuad Kiram and his handler Omar Kiram (not a Kiram nor a prince of the Tausug) that they are sultan of Sulu and Sabah and 'grand prince' of Sulu respectively.

We fear that the UP Economics Society which we understand is composed of students from the Philippine state university might be unwittingly lending their name to an economic scam by the group of Datu Fuad Kiram. The UP group must be informed. Their ignorance of Sabah claim history is most likely being exploited by said band of con artists.

We suggest that the UP Economics Society not allow the name of the University of the Philippines to be lent to such undertaking by a group of fraudulent sultanate of Sulu claimants.

However, if the UP student group could INVITE ALL THE CLAIMANTS TO THE THRONE TO THE SYMPOSIUM TO TACKLE THE Sulu Sultanate claim and to ask them about their purpose, then fine... Otherwise, the said UP students must exercise due diligence and inquire, get informed and learn about who is who in the Sultanate before they attach their name to a group of objectionable individuals such as Datu Fuad's and his handler's whose only purpose in life it seems is to use the nation's Sabah claim to try to get rich quick.

It is imperative for the members of the UP Economics Society not to risk their credibility as the nation's brightest of the bright students whose education is greatly subsidised by the Filipino taxpayers. One way to do it is to be cautious...extremely cautious that they are not exploited to satisfy the grandiose economic dream of Datu Fuad Kiram and his men for himself and for their band of fraudsters that can and will damage the nation's genuine claim to Sabah.

~ Administrators
Philippine Sabah Claim Forum
Defenders of the Philippine Sabah & Spratly Claims
16 July 2013

PH Election 2013: Senatorial candidates who spoke out for the Republic's and its people's Sabah claim

PHILIPPINE ELECTION 2013: These are the senatorial candidates who spoke - in varying degrees of eloquence - about the Philippine Sabah claim following the Sabah stand off in February. From what we understand, these candidates, if they win, will raise the country's claim so all may know that the Republic has not given up on its people's claim. 

We need as many voices as we can gather for the country's Sabah claim. The fight will be tough because the current dispensation is very much against Philppine sovereignty rights over Sabah and will do everything and anything to stifle the voices for Sabah.

On the strength of their courage to speak for the country's sovereignty rights claim to Sabah and for speaking out for the Filipinos who were massacred by Kuala Lumpur troops, the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum group is endorsing the following candidates as compiled by PSCF co-founder and Admin MGA.

~~ Administrators
Philippine Sabah Claim Forum (Group)
Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims (Community) 
06 May 2013

NB: We promise to hold each and every single one of them to their Sabah claim promise when they are finally elected senators of the Republic.

LINKS TO CANDIDATES PROFILES:

# 28 - Koko Pimentel -  http://www.ivoteph.com/platforms/aquilino-pimentel-iii-platforms-advocacy/

# 21 - Marwil Llasos -   http://www.ivoteph.com/platforms/marwil-llasos-platforms-advocacy/

#27 - Ricardo Penson - http://www.ivoteph.com/platforms/ricardo-penson-platforms-advocacy/

#31 - Eddie Villanueva -  http://www.ivoteph.com/platforms/eddie-villanueva-platforms-advocacy/

#4 - Greco Belgica -  http://www.ivoteph.com/platforms/greco-belgica-platforms-advocacy/

#16 - Edward Hagedorn -   http://www.ivoteph.com/platforms/edward-hagedorn-platforms-advocacy/

#1 - Samson Alcantara -   http://www.ivoteph.com/platforms/samson-alcantara-platforms-advocacy/

# 6 - Teddy Casino -  http://www.ivoteph.com/platforms/teodoro-casino-platforms-advocacy/

#15 - Richard Gordon -  http://www.ivoteph.com/platforms/dick-gordon-platforms-advocacy/

# 10 - Carlos de los Reyes -http://www.ivoteph.com/platforms/john-carlos-de-los-reyes-platforms-advocacy/

#25 - Ramon Montano -  http://www.ivoteph.com/platforms/ramon-montano-and-his-platforms/

 #7 - Allan Cayetano - /www.ivoteph.com/platforms/alan-peter-cayetano-platforms-advocacy/

President Aquino, what will you say to an orphaned child whose parents were killed by Malaysian troops?

President Aquino, what have you done to protect and defend your people in Sabah?

Mr President, these people who are being chased like animals out of Sabah, their homeland, by Malaysians are your people too. They are Filipinos and warrant the protection and defence of the Republic.

Grim news: Malaysia subjects the Tausugs to further indignities...has PH Government found out whose remains they are?

Sabah News
Police To Check For Terrorist Remains In Kampung Tanduo
 
LAHAD DATU, April 9 (Bernama) -- Periodic checks will be conducted in Kampung Tanduo for the remains of terrorists from the militant group which invaded the village on Feb 12, said Sabah Deputy Police Commissioner Datuk Tan Kok Lian.

He said K9 dog units would be used to detect graves which may contain such remains.

"We will check the area because there may still be some bodies buried in the village," he said after surveying several locations in Kampung Tanduo near here Tuesday.

Police discovered three graves containing 15 bodies, including that of a woman, and removed them from the village yesterday.

Mr. President, there is no shame in standing by the Sultanate, by the Tausugs, by the Filipinos in Sabah... there can only be pride because they are your people too. You can unite the country by standing by your people in time of crisis.

Mr President, every child left orphan because Malaysian troops killed his/her father or both will ask you why you did nothing while foreign toops killed a member/members of his/her family. Are you prepared to face that child to explain why you turned your back while Malaysian harmed his/her loved ones?

~~ Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims
19 April 2013 

The Aquino family's extraordinary tradition of disdain for the Republic's claim to Sabah

When Mrs Cory Aquino became president of the Philippines following the fall of President Marcos in 1986, she tried hard to convince the royal Kirams of the Sultanate of Sulu, acknowledged heirs to North Borneo (Sabah) to drop their proprietary claims to Sabah. 

We think that was a tack she chose to be able to convince Congress to drop PH sovereignty rights claim to Sabah. However, popular as she might be then, Mrs Aquino encountered strong resistance from the public and from the members of Congress. With that for a backdrop in 1987, the PH government was unable to officially drop the country's long standing Sabah claim despite Mrs Aquino's efforts.

The disdain for the nation's Sabah claim, it seems, has been a remarkable and consistent tradition in the Aquino clan. 

In 1963, Senator Lorenzo Sumulong, uncle of Mrs Cory Aquino, himself rose against the Republic's move to put forward its Sabah claim by openly siding with the British and publicly praising the vision of Malaya's then prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman. Sumulong ridiculed the efforts of then President Diosdado Macapagal and Senator Jovito Salonga, the country's Sabah claim champion.

In 1968, Mrs Aquino's husband, Senator Benigno Aquino Jr, exposed Operation Merdeka by sensationalising it as the 'Jabiddah Massacre'. Operation Merdeka, in fact, was the first physical attempt by the Republic to take Sabah back. Following Mr Aquino's denunciation of the covert operation, Kuala Lumpur began to finance and support the separatist movement by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that saw the secession wars in Mindanao for many decades.

There have been revelations recently too that Senator Ninoy Aquino had actually sought Malaysia PM Mahathir before his return to PH from exile to the effect that in exchange for Malaysia support for toppling President Marcos,  Mr Aquino (the father) would be president and once he became president, he vowed to the Malaysian leader that PH would officially drop the Sabah claim. 

In February 2013, Mrs Aquino's own son, Noynoy, himself elected to the Philippine presidency, has been doing all he can for the Philippine Sabah claim to be dropped even it it means 'cavorting' with Kuala Lumpur and sacrificing the Tausugs of Sulu who are being wiped out in Sabah by foreign military troops.

In keeping with family tradition of disdain for the Philippine Sabah claim, and even as Filipino Tausugs are being slaughtered by Malaysia troops under orders of Najib Razak, President NoyNoy Aquino asks, "But what do you want me to do?

~~ By Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims
04 April 2013
  

The 'fearmonger strategy' of the Aquino administration on the Republic's Sabah claim

Admin Anne of the Philippine Sabah Claim Forum said in one of her comments yesterday that it was rather sad that some quarters in the Philippines close to the President have been fear mongering - dutifully following the fearmonger strategy adopted by President Aquino, and actively raising the spectre of war, instilling in the hearts of people the fear that if the President so much as raises the Philippine Sabah territorial claim to Sabah with Prime Minister Najib, the Philippines will find itself at war with Malaysia. 

The advisers to President Aquino are wrong. Their logic devoid of real merit. The President should give Prime Minister Najib the opportunity to present his reply. The President must not allow this instinctive but unjustified fear of war with Malaysia to be the guiding force and instrument of this nation's foreign policy.

Fifty-one years ago, Senator Salonga exhorted Filipinos and their leaders not to cede in to unjustified fear. Fifty-one years later, we still find the same fear mongerers in the upper echelons of Philippine Society. The end result is death and destructions to the lives of the Tausugs in Sabah these last fifty one years and deaths to the Sulu fighters in Sabah today.

It is rather pathetic that after all these years, we still have not found the courage to raise the Philippine Sabah claim and persuade Malaysia to sit down with us to discuss this very important issue.

We ask the Government of Pesident Aquino to to adopt the courageous tack today in order to prevent more Filipino Tausug blood spilling in the hands of Malaysian military in Sabah.

On a side note, I find it rather uncanny that Senator Salonga's introduction to the presentation of facts about the Philippine claim to North Borneo (Sabah) which he published in May 1962, is still very much relevant today: 

"At the other end of the line are the faint-hearted souls who cherish a host of vague, nameless fears, and who have not stopped imagining the catastrophic, nuclear wars into which the Philippines would be drawn should it so much as attempt to press the claim to North Borneo, regardless of the merit or validity of such a claim. Responsible quarters confess to no little measure of amusement over the unrestrained enthusiasm, on the one hand, of home-grown nationalists in supporting claims — without adequate study of their validity — of sister countries in Asia over territories held by Western powers, and their unconcealed dread, on the other hand, in espousing a claim — without the slightest inquiry into its possible merit — over a portion of the globe's surface which may belong as a matter of law and equity to Filipinos."
Link here: http://fr.scribd.com/doc/36001427/The-North-Borneo-Question

By Admin SMS
March 5, 2013
Philippine Sabah Claim Forum

Related story: "But what do you want me to do?" ~President Benigno Aquino III

Link: Senator Jovy Salonga's  The North Borneo (Sabah) Question: 

Latest Kuala Lumpur propaganda: Malaysia Deputy Inspector General of the Police says he has successfully crippled Suluk Army in Sabah

LATEST PROPAGANDA FROM MALAYSIA DEPUTY INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE POLICE March, 23, 2013 - 6:52 pm: "Sulu military commander captured; Kuala Lumpur security forces have successfully crippled the movements of the terrorists from Sulu" 

OUR VIEW: Do these Kuala Lumpur officials really believe that they've 'crippled' the Suluk Army movement with the arrest of one Suluk and his wife in Sabah? 

They must have been reading lots of fairy tales to cling to such fantasmagorical beliefs that they can cripple the Tausugs of Sulu just like that! Fantasmagorical declarations won't make a dent in the Suluk Army's great fighting prowess.

Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar merely is extending the stupidity of Kuala Lumpur officials when they propagate historical fantasies to their people whom they have been feeding during school years with some completely rubbish examples. Some of the lies that Kuala Lumpur officials deliberately propagate to Peninsular Malaysia youth which, if we do not put a stop to, will be historical fantasies that Sabahan youth will be believing: 

(1) that Malaya fought for its independence from the Brits which is total hogwash! The Malayans did not want to be independent -- they were so fearful of being left with the Chinese in Malaya, they wanted the Brits to stay and play nanny to them. But the Brits said, "You are going to have your independence whether you like it or not in 1957." 

(2) Kuala Lumpur officials continue to spread the fallacy that MALAYSIA gained their independence from the British in 1963 which is total hogwash. MALAYSIA was created in 1963 by "federating" Malaya Federation (Peninsular Malaysia whose capital today is Kuala Lumpur), Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah so how could the Brits grant MALAYSIA Independence when it was only created in September 1963. Furthermore, the Brits had technically and very officially not ruled Malaya Federation since 1957!  

(3) that Malayans were responsible for the defeat of communists in Peninsular Malaysia which is an utter, total hogwash. It was the Brits led by General Gerald Templar along with the Aussies, the Indian recruits and the Gurkhas who fought and defeated Communist insurgents in Malaya! The bone-idle Malayans could not be trusted to fight with the Brits. Half the time, local Malayan intel was rubbish... Oh, yes, the Malayans carried the bags and drove for the fighting soldiers of the combined British Commonwealth but doing the fighting? No way. In fact, a senior British military officer said the Malayan SOB recruits were "a total waste of precious meagre rations."

(4) that Malayans fought the Indonesians in what has been known as the Konfrontasi, the low-intensity armed conflict over Sarawak which took place 1962-1966; complete, utter hogwash! The Malayans did not do bloody anything! It was the Brits, the Aussies, the New Zealanders, the Gurkhas, the Indian recruits who fought the Indonesians during the Konfrontasi years! Where were the Malayans? Twisting their bone idle bodies, doing nothing, incapable of lifting their backsides even if it meant their very own survival!

(5) through a series of half-truths and printed tricks, that North Borneo (Sabah) was included in the Malaya Federation (Attn: Malaya Federation is not Malaysia Federation) which was given independence by the British in 1957. A complete fabrication which must be told Sabahans.

Kuala Lumpur spews lies, lies, lies, etc, etc., etc., ...The Malayans are the greatest propagandists of lies, much like their best friends today, China...

So, we say to Malaya's Deputy Director General of the Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar: Go tell what you say to your marines!

~~ Admins, Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims 
23 March 2013

==============

In picture: Deputy Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar (right) briefing settlers of Felda Sahabat from Perumahan Kilang Sawit Nilam Permata Kembara Sakti at the Baithul Rahman Kembara Sakti Mosque in Tungku on Saturday. He gave the all clear to let them return to their homes.

REPORT FROM SABAH:

LAHAD DATU: The security forces have successfully crippled the movements of the terrorists from Sulu who intruded into Lahad Datu after capturing their military commander in Semporna, early this morning. 

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the man, in his 40s, was detained with his wife at a swampy area at 1.30am after a tip off.
He said the security forces also detained a local who provided all the needs of the terrorists from the early days of their landing in Kampung Tanduo on Feb 12 until today. 

Without going into further details on the man who is in his 40s, Khalid said he was caught at 10pm yesterday in Kampung Tanduo and was now being held under the Immigration Act. 

“The local coordinator has been identified as the individual who made arrangements for food and drinks, accommodation, transportation and medicine for the terrorists since the early part of the intrusion. 

“With the capture of the commander and a local stooge of the terrorists, I am confident the terrorist group is now crippled,” he told a media conference at the security forces operations heaquarters at Felda Sahabat 16 near here today.
Khalid said with the capture of the two individuals, he believed the movements of the remnants of the terrorists were now limited and weakened as they were directionless and no longer getting assistance from locals.

Imperative to remember that Sultanate of Sabah and North Borneo has nine recognised royal heirs

ON SABAH PROPRIETARY RIGHTS (DIFFERENT FROM SOVEREIGNTY RIGHTS WHICH BELONG TO THE REPUBLIC): THE SULTANATE OF SULU HAS NINE LEGALLY RECOGNISED ROYAL HEIRS...

IN PICTURE: Sultan of Sulu, Sultan Jamalul Kiram II (picture taken around 1936).

And their intra-family bickering must not affect whatever the Republic's position is on its claim to Sabah which, by law -- by virtue of Republic Act 5446, is Philippine territory. 

The nine royal heirs must be allowed to decide among thelselves who their sultan is... we, the non-sultanate member citizens of the Republic, must leave them alone to sort out their own family problem. 

Government must therefore abstain from putting more fat in the already confusing problem by remarking "We don't even know who the legitimate sultan is!" Government must step back and avoid such confusing remarks because the principle of Government support for their struggle must be for the Sultanate of Sulu as a body. 

Unless government and the public come to terms with the principle that there are nine legal heirs representing the Sultanate of Sulu, Government itself will be defeating the Republic's own legal cause.

Government must not cofuse the people of this country and instead must revert to the Philippine law and use it to Government's advantage in trying to resolve the Sabah crisis which has now claimed several dozens dead in the hands of a foreign government's maniacal troops.

~~ Philippine Sabah Claim Forum
08 March 2013

A letter to President Aquino on the Kuala Lumpur sponsored circus trial of eight Filipinos

A letter to the President of the Philippines (in picture) 

Subject: The Kuala Lumpur sponsored soon-to-be circus trial (in picture right) of the eight Filipinos charged with terrorism, including two of them who were also charged with waging a war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia).

Mr President, 

You virtually went on bended knees crawling before China authorities to spare the lives of some convicted drug mules on the pretext that every Filipino life is important.

But sadly, that personal doctrine of yours (or was that perhaps just for show?) went straight into the rubbish bin when it came to Sabah and to your friendship with Najib. You implied that your peace deal with the MILF which Kuala Lumpur has been engineering for you - but which was, in reality, a Malaysian strategical ploy for you to bury the Sabah claim - took premium over the lives of the peaceful Suluks who went to Sabah to stake their claim.

Instead of reassuring the Suluks, you disowned and publicly humiliated them on nationwide television, parroting the lines of Najib who literally was crapping all over you, over your manhood, over your dignity - AND THIS NATION's DIGNITY, even as Malaysians themselves were surprised that you had become Najib's spokesman.

Incidentally, Mr President, you may not know it - or may have chosen to ignore it, your friend and bogus "peace" engineer Najib Razak is the son of former Malaysia prime minister Tunku Abdul Razak who hated PH so much after your own Daddy (RIP) denounced Operation Merdeka back in the late 60s that he (Najib's Daddy) began funding the MNLF and MILF rebellion in the South.

Mr President, lest you forget, it was a foreign military with seven battalions of troops armed to the teeth who, upon orders of a foreign government (never mind if the leader of that foreign government was your best friend), launched the attack on the Filipino Tausugs in Tanduo and not the other way around as you and your brilliant advisers would like the public to believe.

Today, you stand accused in the court of public opinion of betrayal of trust, of violating your oath as president of the Republic, of de facto burying the nation's Sabah claim, of inaction in time of crisis, and even of cowardice, but Mr President, you can still redeem some of the remaining shreds of dignity this nation has left by fighting for our people who are facing the wrath of a foreign government and its armies that are occupying Sabah which, as you have now been told, is Philippine territory by PH law by virtue of Republic Act 5446.

If you choose to continue ignoring the plight and the human rights abuses heaped against our fellowmen in Sabah by a foreign government and its armed component, heaven help you Mr President but you will go down in history as the most ignoble and morally corrupt leader this country has ever known. But if you turn around now and show a brave face against the officials of Kuala Lumpur in defence of your people, you just might end up a hero in public eyes.

Think about it Mr President! It's never too late to show even a sliver of courage.

Thank you, Mr President.

We remain,

~~ Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims
21 March 2013

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REPORT: The eight accused Filipinos were among 107 suspected Sulu gunmen or suspected local supporters of the Kirams who were arrested by Malaysian security forces in sweeps in the districts of Lahad Datu, Tawau, Kunak, Sandakan and Semporna.
Radio 24 confirmed that as in Wednesday’s arraignment, none of the accused entered any plea.

Radio 24 said Malaysian Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail led prosecution.

Like the Sabah-based radio station, Radio 24 said no lawyer assisted the accused during both proceedings.

Radio 24 reported the judge as ordering the attrorney general to determine whether defense lawyers will be “appointed by the Bar Council of Malaysia, the Philippine government or the accused themselves.”

Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/69799/seven-of-eight-filipinos-brought-to-sabah-court-in-straightjackets#ixzz2OAkpCkWJ 

UN Treaties: Manila Accord 1963

Philippine Claim to North Borneo (Sabah): Minutes of meeting 1963

By Yolanda Ortega Stern, Philippine Sabah Claim Forum:

The current GPH should please look at its archives and find Page 23 of their official handbook "The Facts about Sabah". 

Look at June 7-11, 1963. It's the official documentation of what transpired in that hearing.