Sultanate emissary to visit US State Department after Ramadan

An emissary of the Sultanate of Sulu will personally deliver an official letter from Sultan Phugdalun Kiram II to the U.S. State Department after the Holy Month of Ramadan. The letter seeks the endorsement of U.S. Secretary of State Marcos Rubio for the 2004 petition to the United Nations, which demands $25 billion in damages from Malaysia for the alleged illegal annexation of Sabah. The petition argues that the annexation violates the Carpenter-Kiram Treaty of 1915, which placed Mindanao, Sulu, and Sabah under American protection.

Abraham Idjirani, secretary-general of the Sultanate of Sulu, told the DAILY TRIBUNE on Wednesday that initial contact had already been made with the U.S. State Department. However, the emissary is currently in Saudi Arabia to participate in the Holy Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.

"The visit to the U.S. State Department will take place in the first week of April," he said.

"The emissary is scheduled to meet U.S. State Department officials for possible audience with Secretary Rubio for the U.S. endorsement of the petition," he added.

The $25 billion claim against Malaysia is based on the estimated value of natural resources exploited after Sabah was incorporated into the Malaysian Federation. The Sultanate argues that despite the existing Carpenter-Kiram Treaty, Sabah was annexed by the British and later turned over to Malaysia in 1963.

The request for endorsement is an offshoot of the reply from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), stating that it would refer the petition of the Sultanate of Sulu to the United Nations General Assembly—the proper forum to address the case—once the U.S., China, or the Philippines endorses the petition. The ICJ official made this declaration on 20 June 2004.

"The filing of the Sulu Sultanate Petition in 2004 with the United Nations was to advance the vital interests, well-being, and general welfare of people—both its constituents and people outside its ancestral realm including inhabitants of Sabah," Idjirani said.

He argued that Malaysia merely inherited British leasehold rights obtained by the British North Borneo Company in 1878. The late Senator Arturo Tolentino had previously stated in the United Nations that these rights were not those of a sovereign state but rather of a leaseholder.

The Sultanate of Sulu continues to invoke the 1915 Carpenter-Kiram Treaty in seeking U.S. endorsement of its case against Malaysia.

In an email sent through the U.S. Embassy in Manila, the 35th Sultan of Sulu and nine other Sultanate leaders appealed to former U.S. President Donald Trump for support in bringing their case before the United Nations.

The email, addressed to the U.S. government, requested the endorsement of the 2004 UN petition submitted by the Sultanate of Sulu for deliberation in the UN General Assembly.

"With esteemed honor, the Bangsa Suluk People, the Ancestral Constituents of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, have always looked upon the United States of America as our protector and benefactor," the letter stated.

The Sultanate emphasized that the treaty with the U.S. guaranteed its historic ties and protection. The leaders are calling for the reopening of the 2004 UN petition, originally submitted by the late Datu Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram.

"Our desire to recover the leased territory of North Borneo (Sabah) was already submitted for legal disposition to the Philippine Government as a national contract in 1963. However, the resolution to the matter has only been placed by the Philippine Government on the backburner since 1972," the letter said.

The Sultanate also informed Secretary Rubio that on 12 February 1989, the late 33rd Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, with the advice and authority of the House of Council (Bichara), revoked and declared null and void the special power of authority that had transferred the sovereignty of the Sultanate of Sulu over North Borneo to the Republic of the Philippines. This transfer, executed by the late 31st Sultan Esmael Kiram I on 29 August 1962, was rescinded to preserve the unity and integrity of the Sultanate.

"The Sultanate reiterated its position to repossess and seek redress from Malaysia’s illegal occupation and administration of our ancestral jurisdiction and rights over North Borneo, leased to the British North Borneo Company in the Nature of A Commercial Lease Agreement. In 1963, the United Kingdom turned it over to Malaysia and named it as a New State of Sabah upon the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, rights which were not those of a sovereign, but those of a lease that emanated from the Lease Contract of 1878.ddd“Aligned with our demand to repossess North Borneo now called Sabah, we charged the Government of Malaysia for $25 billion payment for the unilateral and illegal development of North Borneo’s (Sabah) natural resources and land use since 1963."

The Sultanate emphasized that given the current regional security concerns in Southeast Asia, it is in their interest to accelerate a peaceful resolution of this dispute with Malaysia over the ancestral territory of North Borneo.

“It is also founded on the nature of your Great country’s sacred promise under the said 1915 agreement the United states committed to place the Sultanate of Sulu under her protection and flag’ the letter added.