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ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 20, 2013) – A supposed heir to the throne of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo has called on the Aquino government to peacefully pursue the claims to Sabah where hundreds of Filipino Muslims continue to defy orders from Malaysian government to surrender.
Sultan Raja Mohammad Ghamar Mamay Hasan Abdurajak said Sabah rightfully belongs to the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo and that those who were rounded up by Malaysian security forces are natives of the Sultanate and should be accorded their rights to the oil-rich Malaysian state near the Filipino province of Tawi-Tawi.
“Dapat respetuhin ng Malaysia ang aming karapatan at ang Sabah ay nananatili sa poder ng Sultante of Sulu and North Borneo. Kami ang nagmamay-ari ng Sabah,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
The Sultan called the Malaysian government not to harm some 600 Filipino-Muslims now holed out on a village in Lahad Datu town. His wife, Queen Maria Makiling Helen Fatima Nasaria Panolino Abdurajak, also made an appeal to President Benigno Aquino to ensure the safety of those being held in Sabah.
She said thousands of Muslims in Sabah are supporting the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo on its claims of Sabah, which was a gift by Brunei to the Sultanate of Sulu for helping crush a rebellion. But Sabah was leased by a British company to Malaysia which is also paying the Sultanate of Sulu some 6,300 ringgits.
“Dapat bigyan na ito ng aksyon ng pamahalaan at ng Kongreso upang maibalik sa atin ang Sabah. Ngayon ay tayo pa ang lumalabas na dayuhan sa sarili nating teritoryo,” she said. (Mindanao Examiner)
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