Sulu provincial gov't backs sultan's heirs on Sabah claim
By Noralyn Mustafa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:51:00 08/10/2008
JOLO, Sulu--The Sulu provincial government has extended its support to the heirs of Sultan Jamalul Kiram II in their quest for a fair and just rental from Malaysia for its exploitation of resource-rich Sabah.
In a resolution, a copy of which was furnished the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net), the provincial board is urging the Malaysian government "to settle the proprietary rights of the legal heirs of the Sultan of Sulu as embodied in the judgment of Chief Justice C.F.C. Macaskie of Dec. 18, 1939."
The resolution, dated June 24, states that the heirs, through their lawyer, have been demanding an increase in the yearly customary payment to at least $500 million (from the current 5,300 ringgits or $1,590). The Malaysian government, however, has not entertained the request.
At a meeting of the Moro National Liberation Front in Davao City on May 24, MNLF chairman Nur Misuari "called the attention of the Malaysian government to settle the Sabah issue," or he would bring the matter to the International Court of Justice, according to the provincial board. (Another faction of the MNLF claims that Misuari is no longer the chair.)
Misuari's statement, the Sulu provincial board said, "has triggered various reactions from the Sabahans, and therefore require(s) immediate resolution to avoid any repercussion in the future."
The same appeal has been made by the Kiram heirs in letters to the Prime Minister of Malaysia through Philippine presidents since Fidel V. Ramos, but it has been ignored.
In 1996, Princess Denchurain Kiram, then the oldest living heir of Jamalul Kiram II, last sultan of Sulu, wrote then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad asking for an adjustment in the annual rent for the increases that she said should have accumulated since Malaysia took over Sabah from the British in 1962.
Princess Denchurain, daughter of Princess Tarhata and then administratrix of her mother's estate and that of her aunt's, Dayang-Dayang Hadji Piandao Kiram, set down the increases that she believed were "fair and just."
In the first decade after Malaysia took over, from 1962 to 1970, she demanded an increase of $500,000 annually and $1,000,000 annually from 1971 to 1996.
Princess Denchurain said "Recognizing that … the Malaysian government has been consistently willing to consider the proprietary rights of the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu … [o]n our part, the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu, after all our request shall have been fully satisfied and finally completed, necessarily, we shall graciously renounce all our claims, proprietary rights, and whatever rights we have, past and present, in favor of the grantee, the Malaysian government."
In January 2001, Sultan Esmail Kiram II and Princess Taj Mahal Kiram Tarsum-Nuqui, daughter of Princess Dinchurain, wrote a similar letter to then Prime Minister Mahathir through Ms Arroyo who had just assumed the presidency.
By this time, the computation of the annual increment totaled $855 million without interest.
Because President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did not take action, the heirs sent her another letter in August 2003 asking for help "as Filipinos" to request the Malaysian government to increase the rentals "consistent with the Sabah gigantic improvements of its 29,388-square miles land area, and its enormous increase in income."
Quoting Article 8 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the heirs said: "Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law."
Nothing resulted from the appeal. In February 2005 the heirs again wrote a letter to the new prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, through the Malaysian ambassador.
Kuala Lumpur ignored the letter.
The matter should now be resolved at the proper legal forum as all attempts to appeal for a just solution to the issue have failed, according to a lawyer for the heirs, Ulka Ulama.
Since Gustav von Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent, who represented East India Co., and the Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Ahlam, entered into a contract in the Philippines (in 1878) to rent out Sabah, Philippine laws should govern the deal, the lawyer said.
Citing Article 1643 of the Philippine Civil Code, Ulama said no lease would be valid for more than 99 years, and therefore the heirs were within their rights to terminate the lease contract.
According to Ulama, the transfer of the lease to the British government through the legal assimilation of the British North Borneo Co. into the government of the State of Borneo was a gross violation of the Civil Code, which implicitly said that the lessee could not assign a lease without the consent of the lessor.
Other violations included the failure of the lessee to inform the sultan or his heirs of the "usurpation" by a third party, in this case the British government, of the rights accorded the East India Co. under the terms of the original contract, according to Ulama.
In the growing clamor to revive the Sabah claim, Ulama said the most relevant provision of Philippine laws was Article 1665, which provided that "the lessee shall return the thing leased upon the termination of the lease."
Reactions from Sabahans to the call of Misuari for the revival of the claim have enraged many supporters of the sultanate, who said he was sidestepping the unfair rent and the injustice being committed against the so-called illegal immigrants who generally came from the provinces of Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi — all part of the sultanate.
The deportees are first rounded up by law enforcement agents and detained in Sabahan jails for months while awaiting deportation.
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