The Sultanate of Sulu will officially request newly confirmed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to endorse the 2004 Petition of the Sultanate of Sulu to the United Nations seeking $25 billion in damages against Malaysia for the exploitation of natural resources after Sabah was annexed by the British to the Federation of Malaysia, despite the existing Carpenter-Kiram Treaty, which placed Mindanao, Sulu, and Sabah under US protection.

Abraham Idjirani, convenor and spokesman for the Mindanao-Sulu Unification Movement (MSUM), said Wednesday that the request for endorsement is a response to the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) reply, which stated it would refer the Sultanate of Sulu's petition to the UN General Assembly, the proper forum for the case, once endorsed by the US, China, or the Philippines.

“The Sultanate will officially send the request and supporting documents,” he said.

Philippe Couverous, ICJ registrar, in a reply to the Sultanate of Sulu dated 20 October 2024, a copy of which was obtained by the DAILY TRIBUNE, stated that Articles 35 and 34 of the Statute of the ICJ provide that such a case will be deliberated by the UN General Assembly, not the ICJ. The reply emphasized that the endorsement of a UN member state is needed for deliberations in the General Assembly.

“This is to inform you that according to Articles 35 and 34 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo or the Bangsa Suluk Nation needs only one nation to endorse its 2004 petition for deliberations in the UN General Assembly,” Couverous said.

The Sultanate of Sulu's 2004 petition, submitted to then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, adhered to the principle of peaceful settlement and sought the repossession of North Borneo (Sabah) from Malaysia’s occupation. It also demanded $25 billion in damages for the use of natural resources since Malaysia's illegal occupation in 1963.

Idjirani stated that while the Sultan of Sulu was incapacitated from asserting sovereignty rights at the UN, the present ruling family of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, or the Bangsa Suluk Nation, would seek the help of the US government under President Donald Trump to endorse the Sultanate's 2004 petition, as guaranteed by the 1915 Kiram-Carpenter Agreement.

“The filing of the Sultanate of Sulu’s petition in 2004 with the United Nations was to advance the vital interests, well-being, and general welfare of the people, both within its ancestral realm and outside it, including the inhabitants of Sabah,” he said.

He added that Malaysia became an heir to the British leasehold rights obtained by the British North Borneo Company in 1878 upon the establishment of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. The late Senator Tolentino had declared at the UN that these rights were not those of a sovereign, but of a leaseholder.

Idjirani reiterated that the Sultanate of Sulu would seek the endorsement of US President Donald Trump for the 2004 petition to the ICJ, which seeks $25 billion in damages from Malaysia for the exploitation of Sabah’s natural resources after the disputed territory was annexed to Malaysia without the Sultanate’s consent, despite the 1915 Carpenter-Kiram Treaty guaranteeing US protection of the Sultanate’s territorial rights.

The $25 billion claim is based on the estimated value of resources exploited since Sabah’s annexation by Malaysia in 1963.

“Since the Philippine government has already opted out of the Sabah case, our only hope is for the US or China to endorse the petition and start deliberations in the UN General Assembly,” Idjirani said.

He added that Trump’s endorsement would align with his administration's objective to secure vital waterways across the globe.

Idjirani further explained that the Sultanate's ancestral territory includes parts of the South China Sea and Celebes Sea, historically significant as part of the 17th-century silk sea route.

The Sultanate of Sulu’s petition asserts full sovereignty, legal, and historic rights over Sabah from 18 September 2004, onward, and demands Malaysia's payment of $25 billion in damages for exploiting the natural resources of the disputed territory.

The Sultanate of Sulu’s 2004 petition to the UN was anchored on the 1915 Kiram-Carpenter Agreement, 1947 and 1950 UN Resolutions, and the 1885 Monroe Doctrine.

The Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, or the Bangsa Suluk Nation, submitted the petition to repossess Sabah in 2004 to the UN via its satellite office in Makati, Metro-Manila.

The 2004 petition was based on the Sultanate’s sovereign, legal, and historic rights and adopted internationally accepted arguments for peaceful settlement over its occupied ancestral territories.

The petition was spearheaded by the late Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram and signed by hundreds of followers of the Sultanate from the Sulu Archipelago, Zamboanga Peninsula, and Palawan, on behalf of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and Sultan Esmail Kiram II and the Bangsa Suluk people.

The Sultanate of Sulu viewed the UN as the appropriate tribunal for resolving the Sabah issue with Malaysia through the application of relevant UN principles on the peaceful settlement of disputes, showing the ruling family’s desire for a peaceful resolution.

The UN petition is separate from the dismissed arbitration award before a French court.

The Philippine government has refused to engage in the dispute over Sabah, with Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra stating that the Philippines is not involved in the cases between the heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu and Malaysia. This came after the French court’s recent dismissal of an arbitral award for $14.9 billion, opening the possibility of leasing the resource-rich contested territory to China or the Philippines.