Sulu Sultanate: North Borneo-Sabah & 1878 Treaty

The Sultan of Sulu Darul Islam (SDI) sultanate that was founded in 1457 by a Johore-born Arab explorer and religious scholar Sayyid Abu Bakr Abirin after he settled in Banua Buansa Ummah (ummah is an Arabic term for “community”), Sulu.

After the marriage of Abu Bakr and local dayang-dayang (princess) Paramisuli, he founded the sultanate and assumed the title Paduka Mahasari Maulana al Sultan Sharif ul-Hāshim. Sharif ul-Hāshim was a direct descendant of Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas had outlined the ancestors of Sulu Sultanate including Maguindanao Sultanate (emcompasses Mindanao) through his book Historical Fact & Fiction where the facts had shown their lineage consists of Ahlul Bayt descendants.

Here's the evidence of Leased Payment from Malaysian Government to the Heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu that is being leaked on the internet.

The North Borneo-Sabah and 1878 Treaty

On 22 January 1878 the ruler of Sulu, His Majesty Sultan Jamalul A’Lam, signed a treaty, under which he leased the territory of North Borneo to Gustavus von Overbeck, an Austrian who was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire‘s consul-general in Hong Kong and to his British partner Alfred Dent, residing in London, as representatives of the British North Borneo Company, without giving away his sovereign rights, and for as long as they desire to use these coastlines. Von Overbeck procured the necessary firearms and also promised to pay to His Majesty Jamalul A’Lam, his heirs and successors the sum of 5,000 dollars rental a year payable every year.

A January 7, 1883, letter from the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Lord Granville confirms the position that the “takeover” of the British of Sabah, a Sulu property was a lease, not a purchase.

It states: “The British Charter [representing the British North Borneo Company] therefore differs essentially from the previous Charters granted by the Crown… in the fact that the Crown in the present case assumes no dominion or sovereignty over the territories occupied by the Company, nor does it purport to grant to the Company powers of government thereover; it merely conveys upon the persons associated the status and incidents of a body corporate, and recognizes the grants of territory and the powers of government made and delegated by the Sultan in whom the sovereignty remains vested. It differs also from previous Charters in that it prohibits instead of grants a general monopoly of trade.

“As regards the general features of the undertaking, it is to be observed that the territories granted to the Company have been for generations under the government of the Sultanate of Sulu and Brunei, with whom Great Britain has had Treaties of Peace and Commerce.”

In retrospect, the British Foreign Affairs communique conceded that the matter of sovereignty remained vested in the Sultan of Sulu and could not be delegated to any party because the Deed of 1878 expressly prohibited it.

Perhaps the thorniest item in the Sabah / Sulu agenda was whether the Overbeck-Dent pact with the Sultan of Sulu was a lease or sale (Padjak=Lease? or locally in north Borneo mean buy or lease ALL, and not part of something, paying rental of $5000 per year is the clear evident of lease and not sale). Scholarly sources, including those officially issued by Britain and the US, pointed out that the sovereignty over Sabah, as stipulated in the Philippine claim, was never, at any time in the past and present, relinquished in favor of any person, organization, or entity. Legally and technically, it remained to this day as the exclusive property of the heirs of the sultanate of Sulu. This statement confirms the observation that the transfer of rights made by the lessees to the British North Borneo Company was ab initio flawed and illegal.

However, in 1963 when a negotiation was made in London with Britain for the recovery of North Borneo. The British, in defense of their own argument, insisted the covenant entered into by Overbeck and Dent with Sulu Sultan Hadji Mohammad Jamalul Kiram was a sale, not a lease.

Posted in: Land Of Promise, Sabah