Manila: Several cases will be filed against Sultan Jamalul Kiram III for defying Philippine President Benigno Aquino’s order to vacate a disputed territory, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said.
Kiram is claiming to have been appointed as paramount sultan of an ancient Muslim dynasty whose brother and followers occupied an area two weeks ago in a far-flung village in Sabah, Malaysia.
Criminal charges — including inciting to war, giving motive for reprisals, illegal assembly, illegal possession of firearms, and violation of the gun ban of the Commission of Election (Comelec) — are being prepared against Kiram, his brother Prince Rajah Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram and their 200 followers who occupied Tanduo village, Lahad Datu town, Sabah, De Lima said.
“Since they have remained defiant in spite of the personal appeal of the President, it is now impossible for us to tell them, ‘Come home now, we will not file cases against you,’” said De Lima, adding, “Had they returned (home to Sulu) immediately, these cases will not be filed against them. They were given a chance (earlier) to come back peacefully.”
This was after De Lima and Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas had formed, under the instruction of President Aquino, a joint fact finding committee to determine the liability of Kiram and his followers who took over a village in Sabah.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group were also part of the team that was instructed to investigate the laws that were possibly violated by Kiram and company.
Malaysian authorities gave the royal occupants until midnight of Tuesday to vacate the place that they have occupied starting February 9.
In reaction, Sultan Kiram said in a radio interview. “The Philippine government is more fierce than the Malaysian government. (I should remind the Philippine government leaders that) there was Sulu Sultanate way ahead of the existence of the Philippine Republic.”
“My group has all the right to the claims being made in Lahad Datu, Sabah. What is wrong if we go to Lahad Datu, that place is ours,” said the sultan
“The food blockade (allegedly imposed by the Malaysian forces against the foreign occupants) has no effect on my brother and his followers in Tanduo, They are sacrificing (themselves) for whatever may happen (in Tanduo),” the sultan added.
His spokesman also said in a radio interview that the sultan of Sulu is “just saying the truth. He feels that he and his followers have not violated any thing”.
“The flyers sent to the Kirams and their followers, from helicopters, were not signed,” explained the spokesman hinting that the Kirams do not mind the warnings they receive from air.
Meanwhile, Raja Muda Azzimudie Kiram insisted that the Malaysian government and the Sulu Sultanate should negotiate, adding that negotiation should be undertaken by representative of the Malaysian government and his Manila-based brother Jamalul, the “final and paramount” representative of the Sultanate of Sulu.
“Our demands remain the same. In short, Sabah is owned by the Sultan of Sulu. I will stay here as long as my brother says I must,” Raja Muda told Malaysia’s The Star, as quoted by GMA News.
The number of residents in Tanduo village who were displaced since the incident began on February 9, were not mentioned by The Star.
The Sultan of Brunei gave a portion of Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu who assisted in quelling a rebellion there in the 17th century.
The British colonials paid lease to the Sultan of Sulu during the colonial era, but Sabah was turned over to Malaysia during its independence.
Malaysia continues a token annual rent (P77,000) to the sultanate of Sulu as a “cession fee.”
The Philippine government formally claimed Sabah in the 1960s. This was not pursued with the formation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the assistance extended by Malaysia to the Philippine government in quelling secessionist movements of two factions of Filipino-Muslim rebels.
