ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 21, 2013) – Philippine government emissaries continue to negotiate with the leaders of hundreds of members of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo who occupied a small village in Sabah.
About 600 Muslims, mostly from the southern Filipino province of Sulu, are holed out in the town of Lahad Datu since early this month. They also have rejected Malaysian demands to return to the Philippines, saying Sabah belongs to the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo.
The group is headed by Raja Muda Azzimudie Kiram, a brother of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III. Government sources said there is a plan to fly a Philippine Air Force C-130 transport plane to Sabah or a naval boat to fetch and escort Azzimudie’s group and bring them back home.
“There is negotiation and there are several plans and one of them is to fly a military cargo plane to fetch them in Sabah, but it all depends on the situation on the grounds,” the source, who is privy to the government negotiations with the Sultanate leaders, said.
Two weeks into the standoff, Malaysian officials are now calling for a drastic action against members of the Sultanate who occupied a small village in Sabah which is being claimed by the Philippines.
Sabah’s Daily Express quoted Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein as saying that Malaysia will not compromise on the rights and safety of its people in resolving the intrusion of the Filipinos, some of them armed.
“Since they had guns, it is important our action does not lead to bloodshed,” he said.
Malaysian security forces have surrounded the village where the Sultanate members are seeking refuge.
“The issue is not political, not racial, no connection with the stand on sovereignty but in our context this is our land and this is something that can jeopardise the nation’s security. This is why we are trying to handle wisely without bloodshed or loss of lives in our land,” he said.
He said Malaysia is working closely with the Philippines to resolve the standoff.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has criticized Hishammuddin and said he would have acted proactively if his place was attacked in a similar manner.
“If there was a group of 100 heavily armed men, I would have sought help from the federal government to send the police and army to get rid of the militants or take severe action on them. They should be taken out because they threatened, challenged and disturbed the safety of the people and sovereignty of the country,” he said.
“I am shocked that despite their refusal to leave, no action has been taken and that Hishammuddin has said that they are neither militants nor terrorists. How can he say that? They had grenade launchers and machine guns.”
Hishammuddin insisted the Sultante members were not terrorists although they are armed. He said the group made several demands including recognition as the Royal Sultanate of Sulu Army, and for the Tausug community that has been in Sabah for a long time to remain there. Tausug refers to native inhabitants of Sulu province in the southern Philippines, where the seat of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo is situated.
The Sabah Democratic Action Party Youth also called for the resignation of Hishammuddin and Defence Minister Datuk Zahid Hamidi for their failure to prevent the entry of the Sultanate members into Sabah.
The group’s leader Junz Wong said the standoff is a “shameful failure” to defend Malaysia’s honor and sovereignty, as well as the security and safety of the people of Sabah.
“The decision to opt for negotiation instead of upholding the country’s law against the armed intruders is an indication that the two ministers are unfit for their post. Hishammuddin and Zahid should resign because they are clearly incapable of protecting the security and sovereignty of Sabah against armed foreign elements,” the Borneo Post quoted him as saying during a news conference at the DAP headquarters in Sabah’s Penampang district.
“Armed intruders calling themselves the Royal Army of the Sulu Sultanate are claiming Sabah’s land as their ancestral rights and refusing to leave Sabah despite being reportedly surrounded by the security forces. There is nothing to negotiate. What they should have done was to detain and punish them as an enemy of the State, the same way they treated the Australian Senator who was deported back for allegedly being a threat to the nation,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner)
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