Sulu sultan's dying wish: "Sabah was not for sale"
Jamalul Kiram III, the 74-year-old Sultan of Sulu, listens to a question at a press conference in Manila on 26 February 2013.
TED ALJIBE / AFP
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Daily TribuneJamalul Kiram III, the 74-year-old Sultan of Sulu, listens to a question at a press conference in Manila on 26 February 2013.
TED ALJIBE / AFP
The funeral of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III at the Blue Mosque in Taguig City on 20 October 2013, before being airlifted to Sulu for burial in the Sultanate's ancestral graveyard in Maimbung town.
Daily Tribune photo by Perseus Echeminada
Before Sultan Jamalul Kiram III died on 20 October 2013, at his residence near the Blue Mosque in Taguig City, he once again relayed to the heirs of the Sultanate the decree of his father, Datu Pudjungan Kiram. As the administrator of North Borneo appointed by the British High Court, Datu Pudjungan Kiram was tasked with pursuing the Sabah claim. He maintained that the territory was "illegally annexed" by Malaysia despite existing treaties that placed the disputed land under U.S. protection.
Abraham Idjirani, convenor of the Mindanao and Sulu Reunification Movement (MSUM), told the DAILY TRIBUNE that one of Sultan Jamalul III's decrees was that Sabah is the patrimony of the people of Mindanao and Sulu and that it was not for sale to the Malaysian government.
"Sultan Jamalul reiterated the dying wish of his father, the appointed administrator of North Borneo, that Sabah is not for the Sultan but for the patrimony of the people," he said.
After his death, Jamalul Kiram III was airlifted to Sulu and buried in the ancestral graveyard in Maimbung town, where most of the nine principal and rightful legal heirs of the Sultanate were also laid to rest.
Idjirani said Kiram was able to issue a decree to his two brothers, Esmail and Agbimuddin, calling for unity in the family and the continued pursuit of the claim on Sabah.
The Sultanate of Sulu will officially request newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to endorse the 2004 petition of the Sultanate of Sulu to the United Nations. The petition seeks $25 billion in damages against Malaysia for the exploitation of natural resources after the British annexed Sabah into the Federation despite the existing Carpenter-Kiram Treaty, which placed Mindanao, Sulu, and Sabah under U.S. protection.
The request for endorsement stems from the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) response stating that the Sultanate of Sulu’s petition should be referred to the United Nations General Assembly. The ICJ declared in October 2004 that once the U.S., China, or the Philippines endorses the petition, the UN General Assembly will be the proper forum to tackle the case.
"The Sultanate will officially send the request and supporting documents," Idjirani said.
Philippe Couverous, ICJ registrar, in a reply dated October 20, 2024, stated that Articles 34 and 35 of the ICJ Statute provide that such cases should be deliberated by the UN General Assembly, not by the ICJ. A copy of the reply was obtained by DAILY TRIBUNE.
He said the ICJ's reply specifically mentioned the need for a UN member state’s endorsement for the matter to be taken up by the General Assembly.
"This is to inform you that under the provisions contained in Articles 34 and 35 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, or the Bangsa Suluk Nation, only needs one nation to endorse its 2004 petition for deliberations in the UN General Assembly," Couverous stated.
The Sulu Sultanate’s 2004 petition, submitted to then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, adhered to the principle of peaceful settlement. It declared the repossession of North Borneo (Sabah) from Malaysia’s occupation and demanded $25 billion in compensation for Malaysia’s use of its natural resources since the illegal occupation began in 1963.
However, Idjirani stated that while the Sultanate of Sulu lacked international legal standing to assert its sovereignty in the United Nations, the present ruling family of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, or the Bangsa Suluk Nation, will seek U.S. government support under President Donald Trump to endorse the 2004 petition. He cited the United States’ sacred commitment under the 1915 Kiram-Carpenter Agreement as the basis for the request.
"The filing of the Sulu Sultanate Petition in 2004 with the United Nations was intended to advance the vital interests, well-being, and general welfare of its people, both within its ancestral realm and including the inhabitants of Sabah," he said.
He said the petition is based on the fact that Malaysia merely inherited leasehold rights from the British North Borneo Company in 1878 when the Federation of Malaysia was established in 1963. The late Senator Tolentino declared before the UN that these rights were not those of sovereignty but merely of a lease.
Idjirani said the Sultanate of Sulu will seek the endorsement of U.S. President Donald Trump for the 2004 petition to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which demands $25 billion in damages from Malaysia for the exploitation and use of Sabah’s natural resources. He emphasized that the annexation of Sabah into Malaysia occurred without the Sultanate’s consent and despite the existing Carpenter-Kiram Treaty, which guaranteed U.S. protection of the Sultanate’s ancestral territorial rights.
The $25 billion claim represents the estimated value of resources exploited since Sabah was annexed to Malaysia in 1963 up to the present date.
“Since the Philippine government has already opted out of the Sabah case our only hope ois for the US or China to endorse the petition and start the deliberation at the ICC” Idjirani said.
