agreement if such ownership was not established at all. The contract was between Sri Paduka Maulana Al Sultan Mohammad Jamalul Alam - representing the sultanate as owner and sovereign of Sabah on one hand, and that of Gustavus Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent, representing the British East India Co.(then became the North Borneo Co.), on the other as lessee of Sabah, was executed on June 22, 1878. Though the British turned over the possession and government of Sabah to the federation, the Malaysians have not remissed in paying the annual rental.
The 1939 court judgement on the claim had handed ownership of North Borneo to the heirsof the Sultanate prior to the formation of Malaysian federation in 1963. The judgment of Chief Justice C.F.C. Makaskie of the High Court of North Borneo in the civil suit filed by the late Dayang Dayang Hadji Piandao and eight other heirs of the Sultan of Sulu, including the famous Putri (Princess) Tarhata Kiram, upheld the validity of theclaim of the heirs.
Being a British colony did they favored the Malaysians than returning the leased
territory to its rightful owners as per 1939 court judgement? Did the British influenced the outcome of their sponsored 1962 plebiscite to which won by those who wanted to join the Malaysian federation than be an independent state. One also has to speculate as to why did the British respected a similar treaty with China by returning Hong Kong instead of conducting a plebiscite just like the one conducted in Sabah in 1962, is the Philippines a weak nation that can be ignored? These are some questions that need to be addressed by those who have the mandate to pursue the Philippine claim.
The Malaysian argument before the International Court (The Hague) is in the link below. This is based on the islands disputed between Indonesia and Malaysia wherein the Philippines is trying to intervene.
SO WHY THE REVIVAL OF THE CLAIM NOW?
In the last few months the Malaysian authorities have been deporting, we are not sureif this is the right term for this action knowing the existence of legal claim to North Borneo, thousands of Filipinos from Sabah for being illegals and for lack of necessary documents. There are allegations of inhuman treatments and rapes by Malaysian authorities which are currently being investigated by both governments. It is also good to point out that illegal Indonesians are likewise being sent home through Kalimantan (Borneo part of Indonesia). Both the Philippine and the Indonesian governments have protested the mass deportation and have indignation rallies against the Malaysian action.
Since the time memorial the numerous ethnic tribes in the southern Philippines notably the Tausugs and Badjaos have been traversing the Celebes Sea from Sulu to Borneo and other parts of Indonesia. These tribes are sea faring people and settled from anywhere around the region. To curtail these movements, the Malaysians have decided to demand document from the Filipinos in Sabah. Undocumented Filipinos were deported and could only be admitted back when there are necessary papers presented. This situation is extremely hard specially to those who have fled the secessionist war during the seventies and eighties as they are refugees and do not have any travel documents. These Muslim Filipinos have considered Sabah as part of their domain as their ancestors have been
doing centuries ago. That part of southeast asia is bound by common religion, history...
and people.
20 hours ago · · ·
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