Lahad Datu ‘battle’ moves to Twitter

Angry Malaysians on Twitter take self-styled Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III's daughter, Princess Jacel Kiram to task for claiming Sabah.

PETALING JAYA: The daughter of self-styled Sulu Sultan, Jamalul Kiram III, Princess Jacel Kiram made her appearance on micro-blogging site, Twitter, yesterday evening and was attacked by Malaysians for making claims over Sabah.

In a tweet to a Twitter user, Fatin Nadia, the self-proclaimed princess said: “Please tell your government to give our land back!”

In response, Fatin, who uses the Twitter handle @kinkywildcat, retorted: “You don’t even live there. If you love and want Sabah so much, why didn’t you live there and make it work?

“Is it all about greed? Fighting about land after giving it away. If you want to be angry, be angry at your ancestors.”

Reports of Jacel’s entry into Twitter also made news in Phillipines where GMA News reported the story yesterday. Jacel currently has 2,317 followers.

The claims over Sabah began early last month when more than 200 Sulu men claiming to be soldiers of Jamalul Kiram III from the Philippines took over a village, Kampung Tanduo, in Lahad Datu.

The group of Sulu men is led by Jacel’s brother, Raja Muda Azzimudie Kiram, to reclaim Sabah. Malaysian police and the military swung into action after the group of Sulu men killed several policemen.

Dubbed “Ops Daulat” (Sovereignty), Malaysian security forces lost 10 men in the military operation. In contrast, they have detained and shot down a large number of the Sulu armed men in the ongoing conflict.

Another user who uses the Twitter handle, @adrianizam, responded to Jacel’s Twitter message with the following response: “What the hell are you talking about!!! Brainless princess…Get out from Our Land…”

Another Malaysian Twitter user, Ziad Razak, also rebutted Jacel’s claim.

“It’s not YOUR land. Sabah belongs to Sabahans. Sad. (You) Don’t even care about what Sabahans actually think.”

Another Twitter user, known only as Geminianeyes, questioned whether Jacel expected Malaysians to welcome the Sulu armed men with open arms.

To this Jacel responded: “Excuse me… Read history, it’s never yours! Malaysia never owned Sabah! They are still paying rent!”

She said this in reference to the RM5,300 that Malaysia pays annually to the Sulu sultanate. The Sulus regard the payment as rent; however, Malaysia sees it as payment for cessation of land.