The Territorial Dispute On Sabah In Terms of Phillipinies-Malaysia Relations - Research Paper Example

? The Territorial Dispute On Sabah In Terms of Phillipinies-Malaysia Relations Table of Contents Topic Page Introduction…………………………………………………………………….............. 2 The North- Borneo Dispute…………………………………………………………….. 2 Crisis of Lahad Datu in Sabah (Malaysia) in 2013……………………………………… 4 Humanitarian Crisis in Lahad Datu…………………………………………………………4 Analysis on why the Lahad datu crisis happened in 2013………………………………….5 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….6 References………………………………………………………………………………….7   Introduction In terms of the political and diplomatic significance of Sabah’s thorny issue involving Malaysia together with the Philippines, the matter has been dealt with in various historical and legal articles, monographs and books. Even though some books have partly discussed the issue with Sabah, they have passed some remarkable, relevant and interesting information on some other unknown yet crucial aspects of Sabah. Before the deed of 1878, Sabah was a dependency of the Sulu sultanate. It was a significant part or potion of the territory of Sulu1. However, the Company had assumed some territorial rights over Sabah in a period of time between 1878 to 1946, the period that was only interrupted by the start of the second world war2. Sabah’s historical development before and after 1878 is situated as regard to the Sulu’s history3. Given this fact, Sabah is and should be incorporated as part of scope to be studied in the history of the Philippines, and in a smaller scope and scale, in the Mindanao and Sulu’s history. All in all, Sabah was a part of the Sultanate of Brunei before 1675. Sabah was very essential in the development of the politics and history of Brunei as a sultanate. The North- Borneo Dispute The dispute in the North Borneo is the territorial dispute that involves Malaysia together with the Philippines over a large area on the eastern part of Sabah. Initially, Sabah was referred to as North Borneo before the Malaysian federation was formed. Through the heritage Sulu’s sultan, the Philippines however retains a claim on Sabah arguing that the territory was merely leased to the British company in North Borneo, in 1878 without relinquishing the Sultanate’s sovereignty4. Nevertheless, Malaysia has always considered this particular dispute as a simple issue given that it interprets the agreement of the 1878 as that of cession, and it deems that the Sabah residents had exercised their self determination right because they had voted, in 1963 to join the Malaysian federation5. This Sabah issue has always been a sensitive and provocative issue in the shadows of the Malaysia and Philippines relations. Initially, the Sultanate of Brunei owned Sabah until the year of 1658 when its Sultan ceded it to Sulu’s sultan and with payments for his help in quelling the Borneo’s rebellion6. In 1978, the Sulu’s Sultan actually signed an agreement with the North Borneo British company for the payment of 5,000 USD per year for the use of Sabah. However, the agreement has a number of versions that depend on the language of the signatories. According to the British contract, the Sultan agrees to give and cede the North Borneo. On the other side, the version of the Tausug explains that the land was only being leased to the then British Company7. In the year 1962, Diosdado Macapangal, who was the then – Philippine president filed a claim to Sabah, which was based on the Sulu’s Sultanate heirs claim on the territory. This issue was further complicated by the assumption of the company’s 1878 contract by the 1963 Malaysian federation (Samad, Peter & Abu Bakar 2013, p68). However, Ferdinand Marcos who was the Macapagal’s successor pushed aside the Philippines claim, and in 1968, it was established that he was actually training a group of saboteurs on the island of Corregidor for an infiltration into Sabah. Marco’s however later dropped the claim, but the Malaysians have since wanted a more explicit public renunciation of this claim8. The Protocol Established in Madrid The Sultan relinquished all his sovereign rights over all his property in great favor of Spain. This was entirely based on the peace of capitulation that was signed by on July 22, 1878 in Jolo (Samad, Peter & Abu Bakar 2013, p66). When the year of 1885 came, other nations like the Great Britain, Spain and Germany signed the Madrid protocol to cement strengthen the Spanish influence and control over the Phillipines’ islands. In the same agreement, the government of Spain relinquished all the North Borneo claims that previously had belonged to the Sultanate in the past.the government of Spain renounces, as far as regards the Great Britain, all the sovereignty over all the territories that are there on the continent of North Borneo, which by then belonged or which have belonged to Sulu. This territory compromisd other islands that neighbored it likr Banguey, Malawali, And Balambangan including the ones that were compromised within an area of three maritime leagues hat lied on the coastal reagion, and which were parts or section of the territories controlled b a British Company – The British North Borneo Company. The Philippine Claim In the year 1935, the Constitution of the Philippines stated that the national territory of te Philippines, among other things included “every other region which belong to the Philippines based on the legal claims and historical rights. In the year of 1963, on 16th September, Malaysia was Federated. The Philippines had sent delegations to London just to remind the British government that the region of Sabah belonged to the Philippines even before the area was incorporated into Malaysia (Samad, Peter & Abu Bakar 1992, p106). The Sultan of Sulu was then granted a part of the area that lies on the north east as a gift for assisting the Sultan of Brunei against his territorial enemies and ever since then, the part of Borneo was seen and recognized as an area that belonged Sulu. However, the rental or cession payment was made in 1878 and continued to the independence in 1963. This was together with Sarawak, Singapore and Malaya (Wright, Leon 1976, p 109). As of 2004, the embassy of Malaysia to Philippines was and had been giving some rental or cession money that amounted to 1,500 US Dollars annually to the descendants of the Sulu Sultanate. This was a cause of the British government’s act before the federation which until today, to the Malaysian government. In spite of it relinquishing all his rights of sovereignty over his possessions in favor of the government of Spain and Spain relinquishing all of its claims over Borneo to the British government I 1885 in the protocol of Madrid, the US government still formally reminded the Great Britain that Sabah actually still belonged to the Sultanate of Sulu and did not belong to them. This was on the basis that Spain never really acquired the sovereignty of North Borneo to render them the capacity of transferring all its claims of sovereignty over the northern Borneo to the Government of Britain on the 1885 Madrid protocol (Samad, Peter & Abu Bakar 1992, p 107-108). Nevertheless, the Great Britain continued with the annexation over North Borneo as a crown colony to July 10, 1946. Conclusion Two commissions were of inquiry were sent to both the North Borneo and the neighboring Sarawak to establish the general public opinion regarding the merger with Malaya alongside its neighboring Singapore. It was mandated at addressing the people of Sabah self – determination – the right of the people of Sabah to control and determine their political status freely and to freely determine their cultural, social and economic development.The first commission found that only a third of the population from each region of Sarawak and Bornei favored early realization of Malaysia. Many of them favored the Malaysian project with various degrees of emphasis. The remaining population was divided between the ones who preferred independence before Malaysia and those who still wanted the British to continue ruling for some years to come. These findings were rejected by the Philippines and Indonesia (Alliston 1966, p77). In 1963, a meeting was conducted in Manila, a tripartite meeting between Indonesian, Philippines presidents Soekamo and Diosdado Macapangal respectively and Malayan prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman. This led to the signing of an agreement known as the Manila Accord. They agreed that the inclusion of Borneo in the Malaysia would not prejudice any right thereafter or a claim by the Philippines over the territory. The three states agreed to the petition of sending the UN to send another commission and Indonesia and the Philippines agreed to drop their refusal to the formation of Malaysia. The report then, given by the then UN Secretary General, U Thaft found that a sizable majority of the people agreed to the formation of Malaysia. The effect of the report sealed the creation of Malaysia. References Alliston, C. Threatened paradise: NorthBorneo and its peoples. New York: Roy Publishing. 1966. Republic of the Philippines. Philippineclaim to North Borneo (Sabah) (Vol. 2). Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1967. Samad, Peter & Abu Bakar, D. Malaysia-Philippine relations: The issue of Sabah. Asian Survey, 2013. Samad, Peter & Abu Bakar. Malaysia-Philippine relations: The issue of Sabah. Asian Survey, 1992. Wright, Leon. The origins of British Borneo. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1976. Read More