SABAH, DATES AND EVENTS THAT MUST BE CARVED IN THE MEMORY OF THE REPUBLIC: (1) On 22 January 1878, a contract of lease between the Sultanate of Sulu and two foreign businessmen is signed. The Sultanate ensured that their rights to Sabah ownership were protected with this all encompassing moral and legal clause clearly spelled out in the lease contract, to wit: ...but the rights and powers hereby leased shall not be transferred to any nation, or a company of other nationality, without the consent of Their Majesties Government. (2) On 12 September 1962, Sultan Esmail Kiram I transfers sovereignty rights over Sabah to the Republic of the Philippines during the Administration of President Diosdado Macapagal. (3) On 31 July 1963, the Manila Accord is signed and becomes UN Treaty 8229. Section 12 of the Manila Accord stipulates the following: The Philippines made it clear that its position on the inclusion of North Borneo in the Federation of Malaysia is subject to the final outcome of the Philippine claim to North Borneo. The Ministers took note of the Philippine claim and the right of the Philippines to continue to pursue it in accordance with international law and the principle of the pacific settlement of disputes. They agreed that the inclusion of North Borneo in the Federation of Malaysia would not prejudice either the claim or any right thereunder. Moreover, in the context of their close association, the three countries agreed to exert their best endeavours to bring the claim to a just and expeditious solution by peaceful means, such as negotiation, conciliation, arbitration, or judicial settlement as well as other peaceful means of the parties’ own choice, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and the Bandung Declaration. (4) On 31 August 1963, the United Kingdom grants Sabah (North Borneo) its independence. (5) On 16 September 1963, the Malaysia Federation is created incorporating the Malaya Federation (which we call Peninsular Malaysia today), Sarawak, Singapore and North Borneo (Sabah). (6) In March 1967, covert operation code named Operation Merdeka to infiltrate and ultimately take over Sabah is organised by President Marcos. (7) In August 1968, the covert operation is denounced. (8) On 18 Sept 1968, Republic Act 5446 is enacted: Sabah is part and parcel of the dominion of the Republic of the Philippines. Section 2 of the said law stipulated the following: SECTION 2. The definition of the baselines of the territorial sea of the Philippine Archipelago as provided in this Act is without prejudice to the delineation of the baselines of the territorial sea around the territory of Sabah, situated in North Borneo, over which the Republic of the Philippines has acquired dominion and sovereignty. (9) In 1972, Muslim secession wars begin with the birth of the MNLF which funded and supported by Peninsular Malaysia under Tunku Abdul Razak, father of current Prime Minister Najib Razak. (10) On 23 December 1976, the Tripoli Agreement was signed in Tripoli, Libya, between representatives of the Government of the Philippines and the representatives of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), to wit (among others): The establishment of Autonomy in the Southern Philippines within the realm of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of the Philippines. (11) In 1977, President Marcos renounces claim to Sabah as a step to “eliminate one of the burdens of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) but did not register the formal renunciation to claim with the United Nations. (12) In 1989, President Aquino speaks to Sultanate of Sulu heirs to convince them to give up claim to Sabah but did not succeed. (13) In 1996, FVR concludes a peace deal with the MNLF which was shunned by a break-away, more radical MILF under Hashim Salamat. Peninsular Malaysias Prime Minister Mahathir whose government until then had financed rebel groups to sow trouble in Mindanao trained his sight at the MILF and continued funding Muslim secessionist movement in Southern Mindanao. Mahathir retired from office in 2003. (14) In 2004, MILF chair writes a letter to Mahathirs successor - Prime Minister Badawi to propose different options one of which is for a Bangsamoro state to federate with Malaysia Federation. In the same year, Gloria Macapagal approves the negotiation of a peace deal with the MILF to be monitored by Malaysia. Troops from Kuala Lumpur began to arrive in Mindanao. (15) On 20 August 2008, Malacanang Memorandum Circular No. 162 is issued by then Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita on behalf of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo government concerning North Borneo (Sabah) which, unless revoked by the current dispensation (Government under President Benigno Aquino III), remains in place: MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR No. 162 EXPLICITLY PROHIBITS any department, agency, and by extension all govt officials, civil servants, employees, etc from saying or printing or acknowledging or recognising that Sabah is part of Malaysia. (16) In 2011, President Aquino designates Dean Marvic Leonen of the University of the Philippines to chair Government Panel to draft talking points of a Framework Agreement under the supervision of Malaysia. (17) In October 2012, President Aquino submits the Framework Agreement to Prime Minister Najib of Malaysia amidst pomp and pageantry in Manila. (18) On February 14, 2013, Sultanate of Sulu forces sail for Tanduo Sabah to stake their Sabah claim. A couple of weeks after the siege, President Aquino, after speaking to Prime Minister Najib, delivers Najibs ultimatum to the Sultanate of Sulu (Sultan Jamalul Kiram II) ordering them to surrender because it is a hopeless cause. The MNLF organises a militia to go to the aid of the beleaguered Tausug warriors in Sabah but Philippine Navy and Malaysian Navy post naval blockades to intercept. (19) In September, 2013, the MNLF which was sidelined in the Malaysia-engineered GPH-MILF peace agreement and wealth sharing to be signed on 16 September 2013 stages a rally in Zamboanga City that turned violent. The stand-off continues. Note that 16 September is also the date 50 years ago when Sabah was annexed illegally to Malaysia. (20) More than fifty-one years after the official transfer of Sabahs sovereignty rights to the Philippine Republic, the issue remains unresolved and trouble in Mindanao continues. Malaysia is not foreign to all the armed conflicts in Mindanao and there is not a shadow of doubt that triggering mechanism for all the conflict has remained the unresolved Sabah sovereignty rights of which the Republic of the Philippines without a shadow of doubt has ultimate ownership. NB: Malaysia, with the complicity of some of our national leaders and even of some of the nations oligarchs, has managed and will manage to manipulate the Republic and its citizenry into a continuing fratricide so that the Philippines, drained of its resources (while Malaysia fleeces Sabah), will not be able to turn around to re-claim Sabah. Link: defenders-philippine-sovereignty.blogspot/2013/09/sabah-dates-and-events-that-must-be.html
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 01:13:56 +0000
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