In this picture taken on March 2, 2013, a group of Malaysian police commandos stand guard near the area where the stand-off with Filipino gunmen took place in Tanduo village, Lahad Datu, Sabab , Malaysia. Armed intruders from the southern Philippines had slipped into at least three coastal districts on Borneo island. - AP
Some 1,000 Filipino-Muslim fighters from the southern Philippines were deployed secretly and separately in Sabah to help press the royal Muslim family's claim over Sabah, but they were ordered not to disrupt Malaysia's May 5 national elections, a newspaper has reported.
Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III, gave orders that the new troops that joined Raja Mudda Agbimuddin Kiram in Lahad Datu, should not disrupt Malaysia's parliamentary elections on May 5, spokesman Abraham Idjirani told Manila Standard.
He did not clarify if the Sultan of Sulu ordered a unilateral ceasefire.
Identifying the 1,000 more fighters that joined Raja Mudda Agbimuddin's remaining 400 troops in Lahad Datu, Idjirani said, "We don't know if they are members of the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Most of them have changed their identities upon their arrival in Sabah. [While there] they're no longer MNLF or MILF."
The two Fronts' have forged pro-autonomy political settlements with the Philippine government in 1997, and in 2013.
Revealing the Sultanate of Sulu's strategy in Sabah, Idjirani said they would break up into separate groups and launch hit-and-run campaigns against the Malaysian forces in places other than Lahad Datu.
"This is a big help to the Rajah Sultanate Force (RSF) in order to contain the Malaysian security forces in the area," Idjirani said, but did not give more details.
Idjirani said the newly arrived volunteers are fully-armed and are even carrying anti-tank weaponry with them.
Idjirani said the Agbimuddin's men remain mobile as they evade Malaysian security forces.
"They have retreated a bit and have taken positions away from Kampung Tanduo and Tanjung Batu," he said.
The Malaysian security forces meanwhile have strengthened their position at Tawau which is Sabah's third largest town after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan.
"They (Malaysian security forces) have observed that it is easy to enter Lahad Datu from Tawau that is why they are beefing-up their position there," said Idjirani.
Hajib Mujaha Hashim, chairman of the MNLF's Islamic Command Council earlier said the volunteer fighters are seasoned guerrilla fighters.
"They (reinforcement) are experienced in guerrilla warfare. They are there not officially as MNLF but we could not prevent MNLF forces from going there and reinforcing the royal army of the Sultanate of Sulu in the area," Hashim said.
Meanwhile, Idjirani said that although there is a lull in the fighting between the RSF and Malaysian security forces, he expects clashes to erupt soon, especially with the RSF's augmentation.
"I expect clashes to happen soon. At the moment, the Malaysians are very busy with their upcoming election and do not want to disturb Sabah where there are more than 600,000 Bangsa Suluk residents and voters," he said.
Idjirani said although Bangsa Suluks in Sabah are now voters in Malaysia, they still keep strong ties with Sulu.
Malaysian and Philippine marines have blocked the Sulu Sea that separates Sabah and Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, since the Filipino-Muslim fighters' occupied Tandauo village in early February.
Idjirani's revelation countered Defense Minister Datu Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who told Bernama, a Malaysian state-run news agency, that Malaysian Armed Forces and police are on the lookout for the possible entry of Filipino-Muslim fighters to Sabah.
Council of royal "sharifs"
Meanwhile, in Zamboanga City, the council of royal "sharifs" (religious and property custodians), who are heirs and descendants of the Islamic Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo called on the people of Sulu to unite in seeking a peaceful resolution to the Sabah crisis.
Habib Mujahab Hashim, chairman of the council of royal sharifs, urged the Sulu people to regain Sabah by peacefully mobilizing all their resources to bring Malaysia to the negotiating table.
Hashim believed that the issue of Sabah can only be resolved if Malaysia agrees to settle the issue with the Sultanate of Sulu before a neutral body acceptable to both sides, such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
"In calling for the end to the Sabah crisis, we believe that it is morally and spiritually wrong for two Islamic nations – Malaysia and the Sultanate (sic) – to sacrifice human lives for the sake of a cause which can be addressed peacefully," Hashim said.
Hashim said they strongly believe that the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo has the legitimate, legal and historical rights as shown by pieces of documentary and factual evidence to assert its sovereignty rights over Sabah since the territory has been ceded to the Sultanate of Sulu some 310 years ago by the Sultanate of Brunei as a gesture of gratitude for helping quell a 10-year rebellion in its territory in the year 1704.
"This sovereignty right over Sabah has been recognized for long by great nations of the world at that time, but only recently did the sovereignty of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo has been questioned, denied and stolen from us before our eyes," Hashim said.
The royal sharifs said it was unfortunate that in 1878, Sabah was leased to British North Borneo Co. Sulu Sultan Mohammad Jamalul Alam for a pittance of $5,000 a year.
"But this was done by the Sultan of Sulu for security reasons and to prevent Sabah from falling into the Spanish dominion which was then at war with the Sultanate of Sulu," Hashim said.
He said the Lease Contract or better known as "Padjak" of Sabah was however, translated into English from Tausug as grant and cession by Maxwell and Gibson, which has now become the bone of contention and argument of the British colonialist government to illegally usurp Sabah.
In 1946, after World War II, the British North Borneo Co., a trading company that leased Sabah and does not have sovereign rights over Sabah, transferred and ceded Sabah to the British Crown.
The British Crown then annexed Sabah by placing Sabah under its dominion. Then in 1963 the British Crown passed on Sabah to the newly formed independent nation of Malaysian Federation after a plebiscite conducted to determine if Sabah inhabitants wished to join Malaysia or not, without the consent of the sultanate of Sulu.
"Sabah was indeed stolen by the British to become part of Malaysia," Hashim said.
"Yet, Malaysia continues to illegally assume the Lease Contract, which they cannot by virtue of its non-transferability clause, by continuously paying the lease amount which Malaysia treacherously claims as cession fee. Sabah was never sold. It will never be sold," Hashim added.
The Malaysian government is still paying the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu, for Sabah's lease. This was done starting 1780, by the British North Borneo, which operated on Sabah when the British government colonized Malaysia.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for leaving comment!. We encourage responsible and peaceful comments that add dimension our discussion. No Profanity , No bashing or hate speech, please. You can express your opinion without slamming others or making derogatory remarks.