By Carmela G. Lapeña/KBK, GMA
News
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Bangsamoro framework agreement signed between the
government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) last year can address
the longstanding Sabah claim, but the "traditional sentiments of
sultanates" must be considered, an expert on the issue said Tuesday.
"Ang tanong diyan, saan ba diyan ang sultanate sa issue ng framework
agreement? Kasi kung magkakaroon ng creative ways, na pupuwedeng magamit 'yung
mga traditional sentiments including sultanates, magiging parte ng paghulma ng
Bangsamoro, tingin natin isang pamamaraan 'yun na maa-address at least partly
if not wholly 'yung issue ng Sabah claim," said UP Institute of Islamic
Studies Dean Julkipli Wadi in an interview on GMA News TV's “News to Go.”
Some 400 people, including 20 gunmen, have been in a standoff with Malaysian police in Sabah since they crossed over early this month to reclaim the area as their ancestral territory. Sultan Jamalul Kiram said his followers will not leave Sabah despite being cornered by security forces.
In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Jamalul Kiram III, a former sultan of Sulu in Mindanao and brother of the man Philippine provincial authorities regard as sultan, said the peace deal had handed control of much of Sulu to the MILF, ignoring the sultanate.
He said the group of sultan loyalists had gone to Malaysia to protest what they saw as an unfair peace deal.
Abraham Idjirani, national spokesperson and secretary general of the Sultanate of Sulu, said they are reviving the Sabah claim in compliance with a royal decree from the late Sultan Punjungan Kiram.
"They wanted to assert their rights, considering that since 1704, the Sultanate of Sulu and the people in the entire archipelago of Sulu possess sovereignty, proprietary and ancestral right over the territory... Sabah is not for sale. This is the patrimony of the Filipino people," Idjirani said.
Mindanao conflict
Wadi, in the interview with “News To Go,” stressed that the Sabah claim is at the heart of the conflict in Mindanao.
"Kasi diyan nag-umpisa 'yung Jabidah massacre, diyan nag-umpisa 'yung MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front), MILF ganun din. Pero parang nalihis ang issue. These past several years, sinasabi ang root cause ng Mindanao conflict, poverty, self-determination, ideology based conflict na kung talagang titingnan mo, Sabah claim ang issue," he said.
According to Wadi, the government must consider this in addressing the Mindanao conflict. "Siguro kailangan lang balikan ng gobyerno 'yung kasaysayan ng Mindanao conflict at gawing mas comprehensive ang pagtingin nito at walang ma-etsapuwera in the process.”
Idjirani said that apart from being left out of the Bangsamoro framework agreement, the decision to go to Sabah was also due to their concerns not reaching President Benigno Aquino III. He said even before the peace talks with the MILF, the sultan of Sulu wrote to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process inviting Aquino to consider the Sabah claim as a serious concern.
"As much as the government placed the issue on the backburner, the sultan of Sulu will continue consulting the people kung gusto pa nila i-push through ang Sabah. The reply was positive, affirmative," he said.
It was also expressed in the letter that the sultanate is willing to support the new administration in search for peace in the Sulu archipelago. However, the letter did not reach Aquino, according to Idjirani.
Asked if it is possible for the Philippines to claim Sabah, Wadi said such a position is extreme.
"This is just a posturing I would say. It's just calling attention for concerned authorities," he said, noting that the Bangsamoro framework agreement does not address the issue.
"Ngayon wala kang makikita diyan. Masama na pinaghati-hatian ng mga kung ano-anong pwersa 'yung teritoryo mo, eh parte ng domain ng Sulu sultanate 'yan tapos wala kang say," he said.
Wadi explained that while the sultanate has the historical right to Sabah, it is clear that when it comes to possession, it is the Malaysian government that has the power.
On the other hand, documents as well as initiatives from both the Philippines and Malaysia recognize the sultanate's authority, but this issue has been in the backburner for the past several years.
"Na-etsapuwera kasi ang sultanate sa mga mahahalagang issue na nangyari ngayon sa bansa lalung-lalo na 'yung nagkaroon ng framework agreement. Ang Mindanao conflict kasi parang see-saw. Pag masyado mong pinataas o pinabigat 'yung kabila, aangat 'yung kabila. May mga pwersang mag-aangat niyan. Kailangan ng balanse. Nawalan ng balanse ngayon ang gobyerno," Wadi said.
'Martabat'
Idjirani agreed as he stressed the importance of martabat (dignity). "Ang kulang, kahit anong administration, previous or present one, walang adviser ang Muslim sa Muslim custom and tradition. Ang nakakaligtaan dito, and sinasabing martabat. Dignity," he said.
According to Idjirani, martabat will make it difficult for their followers to return to the Philippines, but the government must create a situation where it will arrive at a win-win situation.
"The sultan of Sulu is calling on the present administration. This is not a threat to the present framework agreement. In fact, sinasabi nila, where are the stakeholders of the peace agreement?" he said.
Idjirani stressed that what they want is for the administration to assure the Sultan of Sulu that there will be "an understanding, an agreement to be entered into between the Philippine government and the Sultanate of Sulu inasmuch as this is a national contract in 1962 between the government and the sultanate."
Malacañang on Monday said the Aquino administration's main concern is the safety of the people who are in Sabah.
"The claim is there and it hasn't moved for quite some time. I also remember that the President did mention that it’s been dormant. Let’s leave it at that for the moment,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a previous report.
Idjirani stressed that the followers are not there to cause trouble, and arrived there without arms.
"The Sultan issued a royal order on Nov. 1, 2012, mandating those that went there to reside peacefully. Never to take radical steps. Hindi manggulo. Now, it appeared na nanggugulo because Malaysia is declaring them first na Abu Sayyaf sila. Malaysia does not want to accept them because they know that these are the real people who own Sabah. In other words for so many decades, Malaysia is concealing the historical truth that Sabah belongs to the people of Sulu and the Sultanate of Sulu," he said. — (Carmela G. Lapeña/KBK, GMA News)
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Some 400 people, including 20 gunmen, have been in a standoff with Malaysian police in Sabah since they crossed over early this month to reclaim the area as their ancestral territory. Sultan Jamalul Kiram said his followers will not leave Sabah despite being cornered by security forces.
In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Jamalul Kiram III, a former sultan of Sulu in Mindanao and brother of the man Philippine provincial authorities regard as sultan, said the peace deal had handed control of much of Sulu to the MILF, ignoring the sultanate.
He said the group of sultan loyalists had gone to Malaysia to protest what they saw as an unfair peace deal.
Abraham Idjirani, national spokesperson and secretary general of the Sultanate of Sulu, said they are reviving the Sabah claim in compliance with a royal decree from the late Sultan Punjungan Kiram.
"They wanted to assert their rights, considering that since 1704, the Sultanate of Sulu and the people in the entire archipelago of Sulu possess sovereignty, proprietary and ancestral right over the territory... Sabah is not for sale. This is the patrimony of the Filipino people," Idjirani said.
Mindanao conflict
Wadi, in the interview with “News To Go,” stressed that the Sabah claim is at the heart of the conflict in Mindanao.
"Kasi diyan nag-umpisa 'yung Jabidah massacre, diyan nag-umpisa 'yung MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front), MILF ganun din. Pero parang nalihis ang issue. These past several years, sinasabi ang root cause ng Mindanao conflict, poverty, self-determination, ideology based conflict na kung talagang titingnan mo, Sabah claim ang issue," he said.
According to Wadi, the government must consider this in addressing the Mindanao conflict. "Siguro kailangan lang balikan ng gobyerno 'yung kasaysayan ng Mindanao conflict at gawing mas comprehensive ang pagtingin nito at walang ma-etsapuwera in the process.”
Idjirani said that apart from being left out of the Bangsamoro framework agreement, the decision to go to Sabah was also due to their concerns not reaching President Benigno Aquino III. He said even before the peace talks with the MILF, the sultan of Sulu wrote to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process inviting Aquino to consider the Sabah claim as a serious concern.
"As much as the government placed the issue on the backburner, the sultan of Sulu will continue consulting the people kung gusto pa nila i-push through ang Sabah. The reply was positive, affirmative," he said.
It was also expressed in the letter that the sultanate is willing to support the new administration in search for peace in the Sulu archipelago. However, the letter did not reach Aquino, according to Idjirani.
Asked if it is possible for the Philippines to claim Sabah, Wadi said such a position is extreme.
"This is just a posturing I would say. It's just calling attention for concerned authorities," he said, noting that the Bangsamoro framework agreement does not address the issue.
"Ngayon wala kang makikita diyan. Masama na pinaghati-hatian ng mga kung ano-anong pwersa 'yung teritoryo mo, eh parte ng domain ng Sulu sultanate 'yan tapos wala kang say," he said.
Wadi explained that while the sultanate has the historical right to Sabah, it is clear that when it comes to possession, it is the Malaysian government that has the power.
On the other hand, documents as well as initiatives from both the Philippines and Malaysia recognize the sultanate's authority, but this issue has been in the backburner for the past several years.
"Na-etsapuwera kasi ang sultanate sa mga mahahalagang issue na nangyari ngayon sa bansa lalung-lalo na 'yung nagkaroon ng framework agreement. Ang Mindanao conflict kasi parang see-saw. Pag masyado mong pinataas o pinabigat 'yung kabila, aangat 'yung kabila. May mga pwersang mag-aangat niyan. Kailangan ng balanse. Nawalan ng balanse ngayon ang gobyerno," Wadi said.
'Martabat'
Idjirani agreed as he stressed the importance of martabat (dignity). "Ang kulang, kahit anong administration, previous or present one, walang adviser ang Muslim sa Muslim custom and tradition. Ang nakakaligtaan dito, and sinasabing martabat. Dignity," he said.
According to Idjirani, martabat will make it difficult for their followers to return to the Philippines, but the government must create a situation where it will arrive at a win-win situation.
"The sultan of Sulu is calling on the present administration. This is not a threat to the present framework agreement. In fact, sinasabi nila, where are the stakeholders of the peace agreement?" he said.
Idjirani stressed that what they want is for the administration to assure the Sultan of Sulu that there will be "an understanding, an agreement to be entered into between the Philippine government and the Sultanate of Sulu inasmuch as this is a national contract in 1962 between the government and the sultanate."
Malacañang on Monday said the Aquino administration's main concern is the safety of the people who are in Sabah.
"The claim is there and it hasn't moved for quite some time. I also remember that the President did mention that it’s been dormant. Let’s leave it at that for the moment,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a previous report.
Idjirani stressed that the followers are not there to cause trouble, and arrived there without arms.
"The Sultan issued a royal order on Nov. 1, 2012, mandating those that went there to reside peacefully. Never to take radical steps. Hindi manggulo. Now, it appeared na nanggugulo because Malaysia is declaring them first na Abu Sayyaf sila. Malaysia does not want to accept them because they know that these are the real people who own Sabah. In other words for so many decades, Malaysia is concealing the historical truth that Sabah belongs to the people of Sulu and the Sultanate of Sulu," he said. — (Carmela G. Lapeña/KBK, GMA News)
Click here on related article:
* http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/newscommentaries/54648-malaysia-invaded-the-sultans-sabah-swing
* Misuari: Bangsamoro has claims over Sabah
* PRINCESS KIRAM CALLS ANEW FOR SOBRIETY IN SULU
* http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/newscommentaries/54648-malaysia-invaded-the-sultans-sabah-swing
* Misuari: Bangsamoro has claims over Sabah
* PRINCESS KIRAM CALLS ANEW FOR SOBRIETY IN SULU
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