KOTA KINABALU – As far as Malaysia is concerned there is no “claim” over Sabah although an online portal, the Manila Times, has reported that the Philippines has offered to downgrade its claim on the state in exchange for Malaysia’s support in its case before the United Nations against China.
However, Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said today the government had never recognised any such claim.
The Manila Times reported that the note verbale, a copy of which was obtained by Vera Files, referred to the May 6, 2009 joint submission by Malaysia and Vietnam to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in which Malaysia claimed an extended continental shelf (350 nautical miles from baseline) that was clearly projected from Sabah.
The Philippines wrote to the UN Secretary General on Aug 4, 2009 protesting the joint submission because it declared Sabah to be a Malaysian territory, and that its claims was based on the title of the Sultan of Sulu who ceded proprietary rights over the 76,115sq km land to the Philippines in 1962.
According to the report, in last week’s note verbale, the DFA informed the Malaysian government that it was reviewing its 2009 protest and its action would depend on Malaysia’s response to Manila’s two requests related to conflicting territorial claims of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
There are an estimated over half a million Filipinos in Sabah, most of them considered as illegal residents.
Philippines claimed that Sabah (North Borneo) originally belonged to the Sultan of Brunei, who gave it to Sultan of Sulu Salah ud-Din Karamat Bakhtiar in 1658 as a reward for helping quell a rebellion.
In 1878, Sulu Sultan Jamalul Alam Kiram leased North Borneo to the Hong Kong-based British North Borneo Co of Baron Gustavos von Overbeck and Alfred Dent for “5,000 Malaysian dollars” a year.
In mid February 2013, a group of armed men, claiming to be the royal soldiers of the Sulu Sultanate encroached into Sabah via Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu, causing a stand-off for months.
A total of 10 Malaysian security enforcers were killed before the operation to rid the “royal soldiers”, codenamed Op Daulat, finally ended on June 29 the same year.
It was reported that the quid pro quo was contained in a note verbale (informal diplomatic communication) that the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) handed to a representative of the Malaysian Embassy last week, shortly after Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s visit.
To a question on the matter, Anifah, when met at the launch of the two-day Asian Regional Forum (ARF) Workshop on Combating Wildlife Trafficking in Tuaran, replied: “What claim? We never recognise any claim, (so) the note is irrelevant.” (The Rakyat Post)
Link:http://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2015/03/30/malaysia-does-not-recognise-philippines-claim-over-sabah/
20
