Moro's Want Sabah

[updated: 18:49 / 02 Jun 2008] Malaysiakini reported Sabah group seriously considering petitioning the British government on the situation of illegal migrants in the state.

[updated: 18:42 / 02 Jun 2008] Moro's want Sabah returned back to Sulu kingdom since they believed, historically Sabah belongs to them. Even they have a plan to bring the case to International Justice Court. Some believe, it's impossible to file a case unilaterally but the ICJ rule said the dispute can be brought unilaterally. ICJ has two fold to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States (Contentious cases) and to give advisory opinions (Advisory proceedings) on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies. In Contentious proceedings, dispute can be brought before the Court by a unilateral application filed by one State against another State or by a special agreement between two States [whether Sultanate of Sulu has a right to file a case is disputable because Sulu is not an independent state under modern Phillipines but then Phillipines can file the case in ICJ since it's sovereign state]. I'm not denying, Sabah was part of the Sultanate of Sulu around the 16th century until Spanish colonization of Philippines and later Britain known as North Borneo. The Sultanate of Sulu was granted the territory as a prize for helping the Sultan of Brunei against his enemies and from then onwards that part of Borneo is recognized as part of the Sultan of Sulu's sovereignty. While this claim still being exist but we should not forget the history fact that Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore (separated in 1965) was accepted to the Federation of Malaysia after the referendum was call and people voted to federation.

Prior to the formation of Malaysia, two commissions of enquiry visited North Borneo in order to establish the state of public opinion there regarding merger with Malaya. The first commission, known as the Cobbold Commission was established by the Malayan and British governments and was headed by Lord Cobbold, along with two representatives of Malaya and Britain.

The Commission found that 'About one third of the population of each territory strongly favour early realization of Malaysia without too much concern over terms and conditions. Another third, many of them favourable to the Malaysia project, ask, with varying degrees of emphasis, for conditions and safeguards. The remaining third is divided between those who insist upon independence before Malaysia is considered and those who would strongly prefer to see British rule continue for some years to come. Meaning that, two third of Sabahan favouring the merger with the Malaysia while half of the third prefer the independence before the merger and another half want to remain under British colonial. None of them mention they want to go back to Sultanate of Sulu [may be because the commission didn’t include the question whether Sabahan prefer Sultanate of Sulu].

Indonesia and the Philippines rejected the findings of the Cobbold. In 1963, a tripartite meeting was held in Manila between Indonesian president Soekarno, Philippines president Macapagal and Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman. The meeting agreed to petition the UN to send another commission of enquiry and the Philippines and Indonesia agreed to drop their objection to the formation of Malaysia if the new commission found popular opinion in the territories in favour.

The UN Mission to Borneo was thus established, comprising members of the UN Secretariat from Argentina, Brazil, Ceylon, Czechoslovakia, Ghana, Pakistan, Japan and Jordan. The Mission's report, authored by UN Secretary-General U Thant found ‘a sizeable majority of the people' in favour of joining Malaysia. The report in effect sealed the creation of Malaysia. Both dissenting countries agreed to drop their objection after the new finding but then Philippines refuse to drop the claims. Although I do believe we have all the documents as a prove, Sabah belongs to Malaysia but then the government shall not take it for granted. We must prepare our self with full documents to avoid any unwarranted judgment if the other party decided to register the claim to ICJ. Another matter that we must look into it very seriously is the Philippines immigrant problem in Sabah. The numbers are increasing yearly and this has created more problems for the government to tackle the issues including the stateless children. Without proper long term strategy, we might not be able to defence our sovereignty in future. [this article is my personnel opinion and nothing got to do with others officially or unofficially. Anyhow I suggest you guys / gals read more on the respective state history for futher information]