KORONADAL CITY, Philippines, 10 Sept. — Sabah is an integral and an indivisible part of the ancestral homeland of the Bangsamoro people, according to a document signed by allies of jailed Moro leader Nur Misuari.
In a press statement, the Misuari-faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) said the document known as the “Koronadal Declaration” was a result of a consensus reached during a meeting of the group’s leaders in Koronadal, South Cotabato province, on Sunday.
The statement said Misuari’s faction will the case of Sabah to the attention of the United Nations and the World Court in the hope of exercising once again their people’s sovereignty.
“We strongly support the MNLF leadership under H.E. Dr. Nur Misuari, along with the Sultanate of Lupah Sug (Sulu) and North Borneo (Sabah), to pursue vigorously our movement’s and people’s claim of sovereignty and proprietary rights over Sabah in the International Court of Justice in Hague, believing, as we do, that Sabah is an integral part of our ancestral Homeland,” the statement quoted the document as saying.
As claimed by the press statement, the territorial domain of the Sultanate of Sulu, a once powerful Moro nation-state in Southeast Asia, was even recognized by the great powers of the time such as China, Britain, the Ottoman Empire, Netherlands and even the United States of America, as manifested in international treaties it entered into with such independent countries.
Historians say the Sabah territory was given to the Sultanate of Sulu by the Sultanate of Brunei as reward for helping Brunei’s ruler then in defeating its enemies.
It was then leased by the Sultanate of Sulu to the British North Borneo Company in the 19th century, only to be taken over by Great Britain when it ruled Malaya during colonial times.
In the words of the MNLF group, Sabah was illegally annexed by Malaysia through a fraud referendum when it became independent in 1963.
Misuari’s allies met on Sunday amid the deportation of thousands of Filipino migrants in Sabah as part of the Malaysian government’s crackdown against “illegal aliens.”
“We strongly urge the United Nations General Assembly to condemn this inhuman, barbaric and atrocious mass deportation of Bangsamoro refugees, who in the first place have historic, legal and sovereign rights to dwell in that territory,” the assembly’s declaration was quoted by the press statement as saying.
Most of the deportees fled to Sabah at the height of fighting between government and MNLF forces in the 70s.
The declaration also called upon President Arroyo to immediately release their leader, Misuari, who is currently detained on “rebellion” charges by the Manila government.“We strongly call upon the Philippine government under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to release immediately and unconditionally H.E. Chairman Nur Misuari,” the statement said.
Among those who signed the Koronadal Declaration were Rodrigo Fabillon Jr., listed as chief of the Christian Unified Command-Special Forces of the MNLF, along with Central Committee vice chairman Jimmy Labawan, Secretary-General Ustaz Murshi Ibrahim, among others. All of them carried the rank of generals.
Sultan Mohammad Jamalul Kiram III, the reigning Sultan of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo (Sabah), who called Malaysia a "landgrabber."
