Sabah incursion mooted last year to save ‘oppressed Sulus’, says adviser

KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — The Sulu sultan’s plan to enter Sabah was known since last August by his adviser, who claimed he stopped four such attempts before the one made last month to save their followers being “oppressed” in the Borneo state.

The Philippines Inquirer reported that Filipino political strategist Pastor “Boy” Saycon admitted to being an adviser to Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III (picture) on the Sabah claim, saying the first attempt to enter Sabah was made last August followed by another one in September.

“Before I talked to the rajah mudah (crown prince), I heard that he was arguing against being stopped from acting when their followers in Sabah were being oppressed and they were ashamed that they could not do anything about it.

“He was complaining about the punishment of the Tausug in Sabah. They were being whipped by police before being deported to Sulu and Tawi-Tawi,” Saycon said, referring to the sultan’s younger brother Agbimuddin Kiram who is leading the incursion in Sabah.

Saycon, who had a hand in the ouster of former Philippine President Joseph Estrada in 2001, said after Manila signed a preliminary peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in October, there was tension in the sultanate, but no plan to occupy Sabah was mentioned.

The Kirams were apprehensive and disappointed that their request to the government to include the Sabah question in the peace talks with the Bangsamoro was not considered, Saycon was quoted as saying by the newspaper in its last Sunday’s edition

The third attempt came in November and Saycon said he appealed to the sultan to stop Agbimuddin from going.

The third attempt came shortly after Jamalul issued a “royal decree” authorising Agbimuddin’s “journey back home” to Sabah. The decree was issued during a clan meeting in Zamboanga City.

Saycon said he did not know about the decree until the sultan told him about it.

He said that some time before Christmas, he learned that Agbimuddin had gathered enough armed supporters and followers and was raring to cross into Sabah.

But, again, Saycon said he intervened and got Jamalul to stop Agbimuddin.

The secretary-general of the Council for Philippine Affairs (Copa) said he was acting in his personal capacity as adviser to the sultan and agreed to explain his involvement with the sultanate of Sulu after the standoff in Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu turned bloody with the deaths of two Malaysian policemen and 12 militants.

The elderly owner of the house seized by Agbimuddin’s group when they entered Lahad Datu on February 9 was also killed.

“As an adviser to the sultan, I help him gather evidence and documents that will help the move to push the Sabah claim in the United Nations. I also help him strategise so that he will be able to focus his energy on the patriotic quest he has promised to pursue in spite of his lingering illness,” Saycon said.

Jamalul, 76, is suffering from a kidney ailment and has been undergoing dialysis treatment for more than a year.

Saycon said Jamalul explained to him that the sultanate had no choice but to do what its people had demanded it to do.

“They would lose their dignity if they failed to do it, as their followers were demanding that they retake Sabah. That’s how much the pressure on the sultan was,” he said.

Saycon said he had no choice but support the sultan’s decision but did not inform the government of the intrusion as he was loyal to the sultanate.

“I have studied the Sabah claim extensively and I dare anyone to tell me that the claim is not legitimate and deserves the highest attention not just by the government of the Philippines but also of the United Nations,” Saycon said.

Pursuing the Sabah claim, he said, is not a shameful act.