Philippine President Benigno Aquino warned the Sulu sultan today that he would face the “full force of the law” if he does not end a stand-off involving his armed followers in Sabah.
AFP reports that Aquino told Sultan Jamalul Kiram III to recall 180 of his followers, about 30 of whom are armed, from a fishing village near Lahad Datu where they have faced off security forces for two weeks now.
“If you choose not to cooperate, the full force of the laws of the state will be used to achieve justice for all who have been put in harm’s way,” Aquino said in a statement aired on national television.
“This is a situation that cannot persist. If you are truly the leader of your people, you should be one with us in ordering your followers to return home peacefully.”
He warned Kiram that he had also ordered an investigation “into possible violations of laws by you, your followers, and collaborators engaged in this foolhardy act”.
Aquino cited a constitutional provision renouncing war as an instrument of policy and a law prohibiting citizens against inciting war, which is punishable by up to 12 years in prison.
Kiram’s followers made a boat trip from their homes on remote islands in the southern Philippines to occupy the Malaysian fishing village two weeks ago, after the sultan gave them his blessings to live there.
Kiram says he is the head of the Islamic Sultanate of Sulu, which once controlled parts of Borneo, including the site of the stand-off, as well as southern Philippine islands.
The sultanate leased northern Borneo to Europeans in the 1870s. While the sultanate’s authority gradually faded as Western colonial powers exerted their influence over the region, it continued to receive lease payments for Sabah.
Heirs to the sultanate still receive nominal annual compensation from Malaysia.
One of the demands from the sultan is an increase in the amount of compensation paid. The sultan has also said his followers have a right to remain in Sabah because the land belongs to them, not Malaysia.
Aquino said his government was working with Malaysian authorities in an effort to peacefully resolve the standoff.
“This is a situation that cannot persist. If you are truly the leader of your people, you should be one with us in ordering your followers to return home peacefully.”
He warned Kiram that he had also ordered an investigation “into possible violations of laws by you, your followers, and collaborators engaged in this foolhardy act”.
Aquino cited a constitutional provision renouncing war as an instrument of policy and a law prohibiting citizens against inciting war, which is punishable by up to 12 years in prison.Kiram’s followers made a boat trip from their homes on remote islands in the southern Philippines to occupy the Malaysian fishing village two weeks ago, after the sultan gave them his blessings to live there.
Kiram says he is the head of the Islamic Sultanate of Sulu, which once controlled parts of Borneo, including the site of the stand-off, as well as southern Philippine islands.
The sultanate leased northern Borneo to Europeans in the 1870s. While the sultanate’s authority gradually faded as Western colonial powers exerted their influence over the region, it continued to receive lease payments for Sabah.
Heirs to the sultanate still receive nominal annual compensation from Malaysia.
One of the demands from the sultan is an increase in the amount of compensation paid. The sultan has also said his followers have a right to remain in Sabah because the land belongs to them, not Malaysia.
Aquino said his government was working with Malaysian authorities in an effort to peacefully resolve the standoff.
'Legal part of study may be ready by weekend'
The Philippine Daily Inquirer today reported that the legal part of the study into the Sulu claim may be finished by the weekend, quoting Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, tasked by Aquino to look into legal aspect of the sultanate’s claim.
The Department of Justice, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the President were asked to look into the claim of the Sulu sultanate to Sabah, though the daily reported that there was “no indication” at all of what his administration intended to do with the ownership question.
“What the president wants is to look at the merit or the validity of the Sabah claim before he makes any decision or before this government makes any policy direction with respect to that issue,” De Lima told reporters.
De Lima announced yesterday that the government would know what action to take only after the completion of a comprehensive legal study on the ownership of Sabah, prompted by a standoff between Malaysian security forces and a group of armed followers of the sultan of Sulu who entered Sabah on Feb 9.
She said no administration after that of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos had taken a “definitive” stand on the controversy, apparently referring to the 1968 Jabidah massacre on Corregidor Island.
The killing of military recruits by their military trainers there exposed the top-secret plan ‘Operation Merdeka’, hatched by the Marcos regime to invade Sabah.
“I think every administration endeavours to make a study but the administrations after Marcos (did not take) any definitive position,” she said, adding that was the reason the president wanted “to be enlightened on the merits of the claim.”
The Department of Justice, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the President were asked to look into the claim of the Sulu sultanate to Sabah, though the daily reported that there was “no indication” at all of what his administration intended to do with the ownership question.
“What the president wants is to look at the merit or the validity of the Sabah claim before he makes any decision or before this government makes any policy direction with respect to that issue,” De Lima told reporters.
De Lima announced yesterday that the government would know what action to take only after the completion of a comprehensive legal study on the ownership of Sabah, prompted by a standoff between Malaysian security forces and a group of armed followers of the sultan of Sulu who entered Sabah on Feb 9.
She said no administration after that of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos had taken a “definitive” stand on the controversy, apparently referring to the 1968 Jabidah massacre on Corregidor Island.
The killing of military recruits by their military trainers there exposed the top-secret plan ‘Operation Merdeka’, hatched by the Marcos regime to invade Sabah.
“I think every administration endeavours to make a study but the administrations after Marcos (did not take) any definitive position,” she said, adding that was the reason the president wanted “to be enlightened on the merits of the claim.”
- Agencies
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