Manila: President Benigno Aquino III had ruled out the use of force on the Sabah stand off concern with Malaysia while at the same time pointing out that he had ordered experts to closely study the sensitive issue.
“I am not an expert so I have tasked the experts to study all of this and to find out precisely all of our standings. Where do we stand? And from where we stand where do we move forward?” the President said.
Aquino was referring to the issue on the Sulu Sultanate’s claim on Sabah, a territory in Borneo located between Malaysia and the Philippines.
Currently, Sabah is part of Malaysia’s territory but a group of armed men who call themselves the Royal Army of the Sultanate of Sulu arrived by boats two weeks ago in the coastal town of Lahad Datu and proclaimed the area part of the Sultan Jamalul Kiram III jurisdiction.
The armed group, as well as several hundreds of civilians from Sulu and Tawi-Tawi refuse to heed appeals from both the Malaysian and Philippine governments to leave the territory.
Spokesmen for Kiram III’s said their claim was rooted on the argument that Sabah is being leased by the government of Malaysia from the Sulu Sultanate.
Politics and foreign relations
But Aquino said that the issue concerning Sabah had transcended mere territorial claim, but also included the dimension of national and international politics and foreign relations.
“The government has been studying the Sabah issue and has compiled available
data,” Aquino said.
Aquino talked about the treaty or agreement that was signed in 1878, which contain so many amendments. It was also written in several languages—English, French and even Tausug the native dialect of Sulu.
“The government will also determine whether the Sultan of Sulu owns Sulu and whether he surrendered the sovereignty to the Americans when they colonised the Philippines,” he said. Documents and agreements written in British and German must also be reviewed, the President stressed.
