History catches up with Sabah

By Ed Lingao

… For decades, the dispute over Sabah has alternately simmered or blown up, depending on the mood of whoever is in charge in Kuala Lumpur or Manila. Former President Marcos tried to raise an army of infiltrators to destabilize Sabah, but that caper ended in bloodshed with the Jabidah Massacre, resulting in even more bloodshed with the ensuing Moro rebellion. Presidents after Marcos either ignored the issue or delegated it to that process of systematically gathering dust called diplomacy. More recently, President Benigno S. Aquino III said the country’s claim over Sabah was just “dormant.”

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Comments

  1. manuel buencamino

    1. I wonder what that 19th century $5K a year is worth in today’s money.

    2. How much of Sabah did the Sultan of Brunei give to the Sultan of Jolo? Meron bang mapa somewhere? How much of the Jolo sultan’s land was leased by Overbeck? Meron bang mapa?

    The reason I’m asking is I’ve heard that the boundaries marking the jolo sultan’s property are not very clear.

  2. jojie-die hard Pinoy

    TAxing the Kiram family is a brilliant stroke. Unfortunately, being Muslim they Are not required to pay income taxes to the govt. Instead,in Islam obliges them to pay the “ZAKAT” which is the counter part of the 10% tithes or church offerings by Christian Catholics. Good move from the point of a Christian govt., but i doubt if Muslim are covered under our laws.

      • jojie-die hard Pinoy

        YeS, as one of the pillars of Islam and as practiced by Arab muslim states where I have worked, one is not required to pay personal income tax (even expatriates do not pay govt taxes for income), except busineses are required to obtained zakat certificates (meaning they have paid i think 10% of their gross receipts/income, this is not the same as the net personal income by inidividuals).

    • @CDQ:-((,
      1) I agree the timing is not a good and probably a political mischief to scuttle the PEACE agreement
      2) Colonial document?? I do not agree 100% because Malaysia is paying rent. It is the crux of this injustice is that our brother Muslims are fighting Western COLONIALISM since the coming of the Spaniards. Yet, this is NOT a question of propriety rights or extended sovereignty for the claim land is both inhabited by ancestral tribes of the Sultunate of Sulu and migrant sabahs. The only tragedy is our Imperial Manila govt and its Christian leaders was NOT speaking on the same level and of the same language and historical antecedents, they favored their colonial masters. The western educated leaders of our govt couldnt careless if the issue is on Muslim protesting landgrabbing.

    • @CP Araullo :=(( It is indeed pathetic that our own national leaders fail or deliberately ignore the interests of its own citizens while championing the rights of foreign power. Ika nga, fellow Pinoys are themselves enemies destroying the dignity of our selves as a nation.. I am disgusted and frustrated that our present and previous govt fails to appreciate the historical antecedents just for political expediency and sublime subservience to foreign powers. Damn this country whose govt cannot fight for its citizens. This is not an issue of propriety rights or sovereignty. This is a critical issue on local and international social justice recognized under the UN Universal rights charter.