Manila Never Gives Up Claims

Manila Never Gives Up Claims
Illegal Migrants in Sabah 2008-07-27 12:43

Source:http://www.mysinchew.com/node/14285


The Malaysian government doesn't have a set of resolute policies to
deal with the issue of illegal migrants in Sabah, and continues to
allow Filipinos and Indonesians to flood into the state in enormous
numbers. While on the one hand Manila and the descendents of Sulu
Sultan have never dropped their claims on Sabah, arguing that Sabah is
part of their territory and will claim it any time; on the other hand
Sabahans continue to live in deep distress following the influx of
illegal migrants.

According to the historical journals forwarded by the Philippines, the
Sultan of Brunei ceded Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu as a token of
appreciation for the latter's help in defeating invading enemies.
Later, Sabah was leased to the British by the Sultan of Sulu prior to
independence.

When Malaysia was established in 1963, the Philippines brought up the
claim of Sabah sovereignty for the first time. However, Malaysia
rejected Manila's requisition, and paid annual leases to the
descendents of Sulu Sultan.

Manila and the descendents of Sulu Sultan continue to claim that Sabah
is part of their territory. Leader of the Moro National Liberation
Front Nur Misuari recently said he would file an appeal at the
International Court of Justice to claim sovereignty over Sabah.

DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu Dr Hiew King Cheu revealed lately that the
Sultan of Sulu had begun issuing birth certificates to Filipinos
residing in Sabah, as a form of exercising sovereignty over the state.
He warned that if the number of North Borneo birth certificates issued
by the Sultan reaches hundreds of thousands, the consequences could be
far beyond what we can imagine.

Tan Sri Simon Sipaun, Vice President of the Malaysian Human Rights
Commission (Suhakam), pointed out that the number of aliens in Sabah
has outnumbered Malaysian citizens in the state, and it is a matter of
time that the majority of aliens there will eventually "reverse take
over" Sabah, as well as controlling the destiny of the state. In other
words, Malaysia may be rudely confronted with the crisis of
disintegration.

When interviewed, Dr Hu Yixian said it is impossible for us to know
the details of the actual agreement between the Chartered Co which
ruled Sabah then, and the Sultan of Sulu. Nevertheless, Malaysia
continues to inherit what the British did--paying the leases to the
Sultan of Sulu. From this incident, we can see that it was actually a
lease, not unlike the lease of Hong Kong and New Territories to the
British, or the lease of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to the United States.
The only thing is that we do not know whether it was a limited lease
(99 years for New Territories) or "unlimited or permanent
lease" (Guantanamo Bay).

He said, if we look at the whole incident purely from the perspective
of international laws, with the reversion of Hong Kong's sovereignty
back to China serving as a precedent, the Phlippines could actually
bring up the claim of Sabah's sovereignty.

However, if we look at the instance of Pedra Branca, then the favour
should tip towards Malaysia. Since the British colonial times,
Malaysia has been in effective administration over Sabah for so many
years. The Philippines, meanwhile, can also claim that it has voiced
its objections since the formation of Malaysia. This, coupled with
Sultan of Sulu's issuance of birth certificates to Filipinos residing
in Sabah, could be seen as a manifestation of Manila exercising
sovereignty over Sabah.

Meanwhile, Datuk Dr Jefferey Kitingan is of the opinion that Manila's
claim of Sabah sovereignty could be divided into two parts. Firstly,
the "political claim" by the Philippine government; and secondly, the
"estate claim" by the descendents of Sulu Sultan.

He said Manila has never exercised political rights over Sabah, but
the Sultan of Sulu does have estate right over it. Having said that,
the cession of Sabah to the British could be seen as the sale of that
estate to the British, and could never claim sovereignty over it
again. Therefore, the money Sabah state government pays to the
Philippines should be construed as lease money and not rent.

He said the Malaysian government must initiate talks with Manila and
the Sultan of Sulu to come up with the solutions so that the
Philippines will drop its claims on Sabah. Malaysia can also consider
paying a one-off sum to descendents of the Sultan to dissolve the
problem once and for all.

Mutalib Mohd Daud, meanwhile, feels that since the agreement signed
between the British and the Sulu Dynasty is no longer in existence,
and that there is no more sultan in Sulu today, Malaysia should stop
paying the lease money.

He said, as long as Malaysia continues to pay the lease money to the
Philippines, Manila will continue treating Sabah as its territory, and
will continue to claim sovereignty over it. Besides, the Philippines
will also not set up a consulate in Sabah to address the issue of
illegal migrants from that country.

Consequently, he feels that Malaysia should stop paying the lease
money to Manila to stop it from continuing treating Sabah as its
territory.

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