WHOEVER was the master planner of the 200-man assault on Sabah is some sort of fool. What has it accomplished? Instead of strengthening the Sultanate of Sulu’s claim to the territory, it has instead given Sabah away forever to the Federation of Malaysia.
One thinks of what we thought as children and further. “Finder’s keepers.” And, much later, “Possession is 9/10th of the Law.”
By pressing the legitimate claim of the Sultanate illegitimately, the Sultanate has lost all standing in the eyes of the world. Remember that countries, as well as Sultanates, are not held by title against the rest of the world, like titled lands in Mindanao or elsewhere.
Think of Europe, even as late as the 16th century. Many of the countries of Europe were still not even countries but mere settlements. They became parts of countries through conquest or as booty won in war.
The Spanish came to our land in search of souls and spices as well as gold and held all the land that they could see, eventually, after 300 years, consolidating everything into a creation -- the Philippines. The ebb and flow of history is unkind to those who, even with title to land, have been absentee landlords. Titles are passing. Lands owned by one are sold or taken by others by force or by assimilation.
When the Spanish fleet landed in what would become Manila, Rajah Soliman owned the wooden fort and all the land of his kingdom. The Spanish crown’s forces defeated the Rajah and took possession not only of Maynilad but also of what would eventually become a country named after the king of Spain -- the Philippines. That is how history is writ -- with the blood of the defeated.
Thus, for Sabah, despite the clear intent of the arrangement made by the Sultanate of Sulu (who acquired Sabah by way of the Sultanate of Brunei’s generosity for helping the Brunei king hold on to his kingdom) with English adventurers, one wonders why the present Foreign Minister of the Federation of Malaysia can now proclaim that the pittance of less than P70,000 that the Sultanate of Sulu receives from the Federation of Malaysia is not payment for rental but “cession money.”
Said Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman on Malaysia’s TV3 recently: “The 1878 agreement between Alfred Dent and Baron von Overbeck of the British North Borneo Company and the sultan of Sulu at that time stated that the sultan ceded the region of North Borneo permanently, and the heir is entitled to receive annual payment of 5,300 Mexican pesos. It is not payment for rent, but cession.
“We have never recognized any outside claims that Sabah does not belong to Malaysia and these claims are non-negotiable. I feel sad because this group is claiming that Sabah is theirs. Let me stress that there will be no compromise of our country’s sovereignty and integrity.”
The Sultanate “ceded” Sabah? Well, apparently, this is what the English adventurers believed -- that Sabah was theirs to give. This is probably why when America ruled their colony in the Philippines, there were at least two instances when the Americans had to remind the English that Sabah was not theirs to give but was owned by the Sultan of Sulu.
Anifah adds that even the United Nations recognizes Sabah as part of Malaysia. Of course it does. The Sultanate’s claim on Sabah is common in the history of nations, proving the dictum that possession is 9/10th of the Law. What ultimately determines possession of territory is war, whether this is a pocket engagement as when a Royal Army of 200 invades a territory with a huge capability to defend itself making the mosquito force irrelevant to history.
What is sad about this is that the claim itself was even winnable had it been pursued through a reading of the history of the world or through determination of the intent of the original documents that gave Dent and the Baron von Oberbeck possession of Sabah. Even if it would probably not result in a transfer of Sabah to the original owner (the Sultanate), this could have been enough to force a monetary settlement that could have satisfied the Sultanate for the next several centuries.
Sadly, that is now hardly still possible. The Sultanate has officially tried to take Sabah by force and failed. As rights to territories go, the Malaysian victory has now cemented the hold on Sabah permanently, with no more obligation (monetary or otherwise) to the Sultanate of Sulu.
Thus, the Sultanate, by taking rash action, has given Sabah to the Federation of Malaysia on a silver platter.
Read more here.
