PNoy takes up Sabah issue during Malaysia visit

President Benigno Aquino III on Friday said discussions have been held on Philippine and Malaysian claims to Sabah, contrary to his previous statement that it will not be on the agenda of his state visit to Kuala Lumpur this week.

 

"We discussed it [Sabah]... this is part of the effort to understand exactly what has transpired," Aquino told reporters at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the Malaysian capital on Friday.

 

Aquino said his meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak included going over significant events in the historical timeline of Sabah.

 

He specifically cited the signing of the Bates Treaty in 1899—when the Sultan of Sulu and his principal chief supposedly accepted the succession of the US to the rights of Spain—and the death of Sultan Makahuttah Kiram in 1986, which started disputes on who represents the Sultanate of Sulu.

 

"So medyo napaka-extensive... Nung sinede [cede] ba ng Sultan yung rights to the US, then eventually to us as a Philippine government, at nagre-react nga siyempre yung family ni Kiram," he said.

 

The President, however, said they are still waiting for the results of a Department of Justice study on the matter.  He also said the government will be asking the University of the Philippines to help "flesh out all of these things."

 

"[This] has to be again verified by the historians, by the lawyers... The endpoint being [to] explain [to the] people what this issue is all about, what we can establish as fact, tapos what is the way to move forward. But we are not yet ready to be able to parang come up with a complete timeline of the story," he said.

 

He likewise said he told his Malaysian counterpart that the Philippines is "not after conflict with anybody."

 

"But we want to be able to tell our people the real score, and in that sense, come up to a consensus based on that which is right," he said.

 

The discussion happened even after Aquino said last week that Sabah was not on the agenda of his state visit. 

In February 2013, followers of the late Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III landed in Sabah and engaged Malaysian forces in a one-month standoff, which led to deadly clashes in March.

Meanwhile, the President did not expound on their discussion on the crackdown on undocumented Filipino workers in Malaysia.

He just said he is thankful that the Malaysian government did not send all the undocumented workers back at once.

 

"How do you address generating employment for hundreds of thousands and at least a couple of hundred thousands?" he said.

 

"[Malaysian authorities] were very conscious of what the negative effects are if they sent all of them back at the same time. We recognize also ‘yung parang the anxieties on their concerns. So that’s just more or less the extent of our discussion on that particular topic," he added. — Kimberly Jane Tan/JDS, GMA News