‘Don’t harm my followers in Sabah’

A supposed heir to the Sulu sultanate wants the Malaysian government not to harm his followers and wants the Philippine president to peacefully settle their claims to Sabah.

ZAMBOANGA CITY: A supposed heir to the throne of the sultanate of Sulu province has called on Malaysia not to harm the sultanate’s followers holed out in Lahad Datu.

Sultan Raja Mohammad Ghamar Mamay Hasan Abdurajak said that Sabah rightfully belongs to the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo and he wants President Benigno Aquino to peacefully their claims.

He also said that those who were rounded up by Malaysian security forces are natives of the sultanate and should be accorded their rights to the oil-rich Malaysian state near the Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi.

“Malaysia should respect our rights, and Sabah continues to be part of the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo. We are the owners of Sabah,” he said in an interview over Mindanao Examiner tele-Radyo in Zamboanga City.

The Manila Times reports that the sultan called on the Malaysian government not to harm some 600 Filipino Muslims now holed out in a village in Lahad Datu town.

His wife, Queen Maria Makiling Helen Fatima Nasaria Panolino Abdurajak, also made an appeal to the President to ensure the safety of those being held in Sabah.

She said that thousands of Muslims in Sabah are supporting the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo on its claims to Sabah.

“The government and Congress should do something to reclaim Sabah. It appears that we have become foreigners in our own territory,” she said.

Sabah was a gift by Brunei to the sultanate of Sulu for helping crush a rebellion. But Sabah was leased by a British company to Malaysia that also pays the sultanate of Sulu some 6,300 ringgits.

Reports said that while Malaysian security forces maintained a distance of over 500 meters from the armed group of Rajah Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram, police, army and naval activities have significantly increased in Tanduao, Lahad Datu in the last 24 hours.

Agencies