Manila: A Filipino-Muslim sultan will be charged for allowing his followers to violate an elections’ gun ban, illegal possession of firearms and inciting to sedition when they took arms and tried to reclaim Sabah from Malaysia in February, a local paper said.

Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and his 38 followers will be charged for violating the gun ban imposed by the Commission of Elections (Comelec) in February, prior to the May 13 polls, when they left Sulu and began a guerilla warfare in Tanduao village, Lahad Datu Sabah, on February 12, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said. Its recommendation comes two months after it was tasked by the justice department to lead the investigation of the incident that soured ties between Malaysia and the Philippines, according to ‘Star’, which quoted an official who has a copy of the report.

Kiram and his 38 followers who were arrested at the Sulu Sea while returning to the country from Sabah on March 13 will also be charged with illegal possession of firearms and inciting to war (of followers and supporters in Sabah), the NBI report said.

There was evidence that Kiram, his brothers and other relatives in Metro Manila’s suburban Taguig City “had planned [the incursion] as early as November 2012,” said the NBI which described the plot as a form of “adventure”.

Former national security adviser Norberto Gonzales, Council for Philippine Affairs secretary-general Pastor Saycon, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chairman Nur Misuari and former journalist Waldy Carbonell were exonerated of charges to incite sedition in Sabah, the NBI report said.

Lack of evidence

There was no sufficient evidence to prove that they had helped implement Kirams’ plan to start the armed struggle in Sabah, the NBI report said.

In response, Abraham Idjirani, spokesman of the Kiram family, said: “We are ready to go to jail. This is part of the struggle to reclaim Sabah.”

The brother of the sultan of Sulu, Rajah Muda Agbimuddin led 200 armed men to start efforts to reclaim Sabah from Malaysia on February 9. Beefed up with 1,000 volunteers from Sulu, clashes with the security forces of Sabah are still ongoing, sources said.

The Kiram family is part of a long line of the sultanate of Sulu whose forefather received Sabah as a gift from the Sultan of Brunei in the 16th century.

The Kiram family still annually receives a token lease money from Malaysia. It is a continuation of payment made by a former colonial company that paid money to the Sultanate of Sulu for the use of Sabah when Great Britain colonised Malaysia in the 17th century.

The same company turned over Sabah to Great Britain, which also turned it over to the Federation of Malaysia when the latter became independent in 1964.

At the time, the Kiram family asked the Philippine government to claim Sabah. It was enforced with talks that failed during the time of former President Diosdado Macapagal. The Philippine Congress then passed a law saying that Sabah is under the sovereignty of the Philippine government.