Manila: A Philippine sultan whose armed followers invaded a Malaysian region, sparking a security crisis that left dozens of people dead earlier this year, died on Sunday of multiple organ failure. He was 75.
Jamalul Kiram III, claimant to the throne of Royal Sultanate of Sulu, died on Sunday morning after a long-drawn battle against kidney disease, his spokesman, Abraham Idjirani announced.
In a telephone interview, Idjirani told Gulf News that the 75-year-old Sultan died on Sunday at the government-run Philippine Heart Centre in suburban Quezon City, where he had been under observation for the past few days.
He said Kiram III had gone to the hospital to undergo his regular renal dialysis last week but was advised by his physician to stay at the heart centre as his blood pressure and sugar level had dropped significantly. At around 4:42 am on Sunday, the ageing Sultan breathed his last, Idjiran said quoting doctors who said that the Sultan had died from multiple organ failure.
He added that according to the Sultan’s family’s plans, Kiram III would be buried in Maimbung, the Sultanate of Sulu’s historical capital.
“Before he died, he made known his two wishes — that his remains be laid to rest in Maimbung and that his family be united in their aspirations for Sulu,” said Idjirani.
He added that interment arrangements are still being discussed by Kiram III’s family who had been living at the Maharlika Village in Taguig City. The Sultan was last married to a Christian woman named Celia who bore him three children. He had six other children from another woman named Carolyn.
During his younger years, Jamalul Dalus Strattan Kiram III was a member of the country’s national dance troupe, the “Bayanihan”. He also had a stint as a radio commentator.
Kiram III was proclaimed Sultan of Sulu in 1984. He is the son of Sultan Pujurungan Kiram who ruled from 1974 to 1981. His aspirations for Muslims in Southern Mindanao to have significance in a political landscape dominated by Christian politicians came to the fore in 2007, he ran for the senatorial elections of the Arroyo administration Team Unity ticket. Unfortunately, he lost in the electoral contest.
The Sultanate of Sulu had claimed Sabah and North Borneo as part of its territory by virtue of a “lease agreement” executed in 1878 between Sultan Mohammad Jamadul Alam with the British North Borneo Company represented by Gustavus Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent.
The territory covered by the lease comprised some seven million hectares.
Colonial administrations changed over the years in Sulu and in North Borneo, as they separately evolved into the Philippines and Malaysian governments.
The arrangement between the British North Borneo Co and the Sulu Sultanate was overtaken by changes in the political scene and the claim was left to gather dust in the archives.
In 1962, the then President Diosdado Macapagal accepted the cession of sovereignty over Sabah, in essence turning over to the Philippine government its obligations in working for the Sabah claim.
The government of present President Benigno Aquino had ignored clamours made by Kiram III to resurrect the claim on Sabah and North Borneo and in February 9, 2013, a small flotilla from Sulu and Tawi-Tawi bearing 200 armed members of the Royal Sultanate of Sulu Army landed in the western shores of Sabah.
Although the incursion was repulsed by Malaysian security forces, the incident brought to the collective consciousness of Filipinos and Malaysians that Kuala Lumpur’s claim of sovereignty over Sabah and North Borneo is under dispute.
According to Idjirani, a council of the Sultan or a Ruma Bechara is still discussing the matter of accession of a new leader.
“Right now, the council is still to decide who will be the next Sultan,” he told Gulf News.
_resources1_16a3106a819_small.jpg)
