COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 7, 2013) – Philippine President Benigno Aquino continues to draw criticism over his failure to protect the sovereign and historical rights of the Sulu Sultanate over North Borneo where Malaysian security forces mounted a massive assault on about 200 followers of the Filipino Muslim royal family.
The human rights group Karapatan said it is immensely saddened by the killings of dozens of sultanate followers in the fierce military operations mounted by Malaysia in an effort to flush out members of the Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram led by his brother Raja Muda Agbimuddin.
The group blamed Aquino for the government’s failure to prevent the assaults. The Sultanate of Sulu is renewed its claim on the island, just several nautical miles from the southern Philippines, which Malaysia has illegally annexed.
“Instead of interceding for the Filipino Muslims through an urgent and diligent negotiation with the Malaysian government for a peaceful resolution of the issue, Aquino ordered a pullout of the Sultan’s Royal Army from Sabah, saying “surrender now without conditions,” it said.
Karapatan said Aquino’s posturing on the Sabah issue is no different from the positions he has taken in behalf of the big transnational corporations, the landlords and the big business.
“He has spoken on behalf of their interest to take control of the Filipino people’s mineral and other resources; of the industries and entities that provide basic services to the people; of the U.S. government’s interest in Asia-Pacific by fanning anti-China sentiments. Aquino is the spokesperson of all these interest groups but he has never spoken in behalf of the poor and marginalized Filipinos,” it said.
The Sabah claim dates back to many centuries ago, although the Sulu Sultanate is historically older than the Philippine nation state and Sabah of Malaysian Federation. In the 1960s, the Philippines pressed a sovereign claim to the territory but this has remained dormant since then.
“The Aquino government seems oblivious to this, throwing away whatever sense of history it has. Obviously, Aquino’s position to the issue is in contrast to this hubris attitude with China, in the claim for the un-populated Scarborough strip of islands.”
“By his action, Aquino completely surrendered the historic claim of the Philippines to Sabah. Worse, he has abandoned his responsibility to protect his constituents, in this particular case, his Moro constituents. His action manifests the height of apathy to the Moro people’s struggle for self-determination, a puppet’s surrender of the country’s sovereign right, and a weakling’s consequent fascist tendencies,” Karapatan said.
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