Get Philippines to drop Sabah claim once and for all, says MP

 

Sepanggar MP Azis Jamman says the government should not merely make election promises.

KUALA LUMPUR: A Warisan MP has said Putrajaya should push the Philippines to drop its claim over Sabah once and for all and not merely make a promise when elections come around.

Azis Jamman said it was disappointing that the dispute remains unresolved 58 years after the formation of Malaysia.

Azis, a former deputy home minister, said the issue would often crop up when elections were held in Sabah.

The government needs to prove it would “defend every inch of Sabah” as proclaimed by its leaders, Azis said.

“So, once and for all, the government needs to show their commitment. Do not just harp on it during the election season. This matter has to be raised at international level, including Asean and the United Nations,” he said when debating the 12th Malaysia Plan at the Dewan Rakyat today.

Azis, who is MP for Sepanggar, also called on the government to maximise its defence assets to prevent undocumented migrants from entering Sabah. He said there were many hidden routes that made it easy for undocumented migrants to sneak into the country.

The controversy over the Sabah claim was revived in July last year when the Philippines foreign secretary Teodoro Locsin said that Sabah “is not in Malaysia”, and later saying on Aug 31 that he would revive the North Borneo Bureau in the foreign ministry, which is dedicated to efforts to reclaim Sabah.

Manila made its first official attempt to claim sovereignty over the East Malaysian state in June 1962, when Sabah was a British crown colony.

The Philippines’ claim is based on its assertion that sovereignty over the territory remained vested in the Sultanate of Sulu which at one time had sovereignty over parts of north Borneo.

Malaysia has stated that Sabah had been ceded to the North Borneo Company which later handed over control to the British government. - FMT