Another 'Sulu sultan' calls intrusion bid to claim Sabah

VIDEO 4.09 mins

The standoff between the Sulu sultanate followers in Lahad Datu and Malaysian security forces has taken a new twist, with another ‘Sulu sultan' condemning the armed intrusion as a move to lay claim to Sabah.

"They want to assure the people that they are with the legitimate sultan, but the fact is that they are not, because there is only one sultan in Sulu - and that is me," Ampun Muedzul-Lail Tan Kiram (left) toldKiniTV by phone.

About 100 militants holed up in Kampung Tanduo, near Lahad Datu, have claimed that they have the mandate of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III for their expedition, which is led by ‘crown prince' Rajah Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram.

However, Muedzul-Lail said the group's landing in Kampung Tanduo was unwise, although he considers the territory to be rightfully his.

"He is against the way that the situation is being handled at the moment because going into another country's territory with people (who are) armed... we don't think it is a good idea," said Ampun Meudzul's chancellor, Andres Lindholm.

Meanwhile, South-east Asia observer Farish Noor believes the reason so many people are making claims to the Sulu throne - about 60 according to Lindholm - is because the sultanate's heirs have dispersed after the kingdom's downfall.

"The problem is with such a long space of time that has passed, from the end of the Kingdom of Sulu in 1862 and the situation that he had in the 1960s. Basically, the Sulu royal family has been dispersed and disintegrated.

"That explains why there are so many people claiming to be the sultan of Sulu," said Farish, who is a lecturer at the National University of Singapore.