Causes of Itchy Scalp

Itchy scalp can be caused by a number of diseases, which are diagnosed by the history and nature of scaling, duration of itching, severity of itching, extent of scales and presence of skin rashes elsewhere on the body.

What are the Causes of Itchy Scalp

The commonest causes of itchy scalp are dry scalp, dandruff, seborrheic dermatitis, scalp psoriasis, contact dermatitis, head lice infestation, ring worm of the scalp, tinea amiantacea, lichen planus, hair follicle inflammation, neurogenic excoriation and pyogenic infection of scalp.

Needless to say, a definite diagnosis of the condition causing scalp itching is necessary to effectively get rid of the itchy scalp.

Dry Scalp Causing Itchy Scalp

Dry scalp is one of the overlooked causes of itchy scalp. This may be caused by harsh shampoos, hair lotions or tinctures with alcohol as base or following frequent washing.

Itching of the scalp due to dryness is more common during cold, winter months.

Dandruff as a Cause of Itchy Scalp

While mild dandruff may not cause much itching on the scalp, superadded yeast infection will cause itchy scalp in the mild to moderate types of dandruff.

The scaling of dandruff is generalized over the scalp. When severe, the scaling may extend to the eyebrows, ear canal, front and back of chest etc.

Scalp Itching Caused by Seborrheic Dermatitis

Seborrheic dermatitis shows greasy scales throughout the scalp. The underlying skin may be reddish. In severe cases, red scaly rashes may be present on the sides of the nose, chest and back.

The scalp itching in seborrheic dermatitis can be moderate to severe. Seborrheic dermatitis is can be considered as the inflammatory type of dandruff.

Scalp Psoriasis: An Important Cause of Itchy Scalp

Scalp psoriasis, in contrast to seborrheic dermatitis, has thick scales with scattered plaques at different places of the scalp. Scraping off the scales reveals bleeding points, the Auspitz’ sign. Itching is variable in scalp psoriasis.

Though at times scalp psoriasis can occur without scaly rashes elsewhere in the body, in most cases other areas of the body is also involved.

Contact Dermatitis

Allergy to certain scalp and hair applications (creams, lotions, gels, shampoos, hair dye etc) can result in severe itchy scalp with oozing, crusting and scaling.

A history of itchy scalp following use of some applications on the scalp is an indicator that the itching is caused by contact allergy.

Head Lice Infestation (Pediculosis Capitis)

Pediculosis capitis or head lice infestation is a common cause of itchy scalp in girls and young women who tie their wet hair before it is dried properly. This creates a perfect environment for the lice to flourish.

Severe lice infestation can cause secondary bacterial infection, oozing, crusting and other inflammatory changes on the scalp, neck and forehead. Finding the louse and its egg confirms the diagnosis.

Ring Worm of the Scalp (Tinea Capitis)

Ring worm of the scalp is usually seen in children, and rarely in adults. There is circumscribed and patchy scaling and itching with broken hairs or hair fall in the area.

Scalp ringworm can cause severe itching resulting in further patchy loss of hair. The skin shows mild to moderate scaling, crusting and oozing. Inflammatory reaction of the tinea capitis can cause boggy swelling in the area, known as kerion.

Pityriasis Amiantacea (Tinea Amiantacea)

Pityriasis amiantacea is thought to be a hypersensitivity response to a number of scalp diseases, like scalp psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis or lichen simplex chronicus.

Tinea amiantacea is a misnomer as fungal infection is rarely a cause for P. amiantacea. There is a thick yellow crusty flaking of the scalp along with matting of the hairs in the affected areas. Scaling is more prominent than itching in P.amiantacea.

Lichen Planus

Lichen planus can affect the scalp at times, and is known as lichen plano pilaris. Redness, itching, hair loss and scarring are the features of lichen planus.

The itchy scalp in lichen planus can cause patchy scarred hair loss with underlying violaceous skin.

Hair Follicle Inflammation

Hair follicles inflammation or infection, known as folliculitis can occur on the scalp due to yeast or bacteria. Itchy scalp and painful, scattered and infected bumps are the main features of scalp folliculitis.

Neurogenic Excoriation

Neurogenic excoriation or lichen simplex is another cause for itchy scalp and is related to stress and anxiety. Habitual scratching leads to thickening and hair loss to a localized area of the scalp, usually on the sides.

Pyogenic Infection of Scalp

Bacterial infection of the scalp is common in malnourished children. Itchy, flaky crusts with yellowish discharge mat the hairs together in pyogenic infection of the scalp.

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Sabah stand-off 'turns deadly' as clashes break out

At least two policemen are reported to have died in clashes at a village in Malaysia's Sabah province which was being occupied by a Philippines clan.

The group - supporters of a Muslim sultan that makes a historical claim to the land - said police had opened fire.

But Indonesian and Malaysian officials said the police officers were killed by the clan, and that the two-week stand-off was now over.

Both governments had been urging the group to leave the village peacefully.

Malaysian police have so far not commented on the incident.

At least 100 members of the clan, who call themselves the Royal Army of Sulu, arrived in Lahad Datu by boat just over two weeks ago, demanding recognition from the Malaysian government. Some 30 of them were armed.

Agbimuddin Kiram, who is the younger brother of the Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III and was in the village, told a Philippines radio station on Friday morning that police had surrounded them and opened fire.

"They are here, they entered our area so we have to defend ourselves. There's shooting already," he told Manila-based DZBB radio.

"We're surrounded. We will defend ourselves," he said. The group later said that 10 of their members had been killed, but this has not been independently confirmed.

The village the Filipinos were occupying formed part of the Sulu Sultanate - which once spread over several southern Philippine islands as well as parts of Borneo - before it was designated a British protectorate in the 1800s.

'Not a single shot'

Raul Hernandez, a spokesman for the Philippine foreign department, said two police officers had died, as well as the owner of a house in which the clan had been staying, AFP reports.

Citing a report by Malaysia's ambassador, he said 10 of the clan had been arrested.

Malaysia's Bernama state news agency said the two officers were killed in a mortar attack.

It quoted Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak as having said earlier on Friday: "Our patience has reached the limit. We have a plan to remove them, they should have surrendered and left."

A spokesman for Philippines President Benigno Aquino had earlier told Reuters that warning shots had been fired when members of the group tried to breach a security cordon.

But a message was posted on the Facebook page of Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein saying that Malaysian forces had not fired "a single shot" but "were shot at 10am this morning."

Malaysia and the Philippines had agreed the stand-off would be ended peacefully, but the occupation has heightened tensions between the two countries over the ownership of Sabah.

The area around the village had been evacuated as a precaution after the clan arrived, and the security presence was increased.

Sabah became part of Malaysia in 1963, and the country still pays a token rent to the Sulu Sultanate each year.

Earlier this week, President Aquino urged the sultan to call an end to the "foolhardy act", warning the group would face "the full force of the law" to achieve justice.

"This is a situation that cannot persist," Mr Aquino said in a televised address. "If you are truly the leader of your people, you should be one with us in ordering your followers to return home peacefully." - source

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'14 die' in Sabah Standoff siege clash

Fourteen people have been killed in a shoot-out amid a three-week security siege on some 200 members of a Filipino clan occupying a village in eastern Malaysia.

Members of a Muslim royal clan from the southern Philippines landed in the coastal village of Lahad Datu in Sabah state on February 9 to claim the territory as their own, citing ownership documents from the late 1800s.

Sabah Police Chief Hamza Taib says 12 clan members and two Malaysian police commandos were killed early today in a 30-minute shootout.

He says Malaysian authorities were tightening a security cordon around the village when members of the clan opened fired.

Mr Hamza says three Malaysian policemen were injured in the shoot-out and that the security operation is continuing.

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Firefight at Lahad Datu begins

Firefight broke out between the Malaysian forces and the forces of Datu Agbimuddin Kiram, the Rajah Muda (Crown Prince) of the Sultanate of Sulu in Southern Philippines around 10:00 am Friday, according to media interviews with the Rajah Muda in Lahad Datu and the Sultan of Sulu in Manila.

The Philippine government's Department of Foreign Affairs announced that there were no casualties.

The Kirams said there have been casualties on their side but they could not confirm if there were casualties on the Malaysian side. Abraham Ijirani, the Sultan's spokesman said that ten of Raja Muda's people were killed, including one woman. Four are wounded.

According to sources at Sandakan Hospital in Sandakan, Sabah, there now 20 Malaysian dead, as of 1: 40 pm.

The Lahad Datu airport is closed and the military, not the police, are the ones fighting the Moros. Another source in Sabah said that fighting has now erupted in Kunak, a small town near Lahad Datu.

The Rajah Muda and his men, some 200 of them, reportedly arrived in Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia on Feb. 11, 2013. The Malaysian authorities alleged that the men from Sulu were armed.

The Malaysian authorities notified the Philippine government about the situation and asked that the Filipinos deal with the Rajah Muda's men initially.

Emissaries from the Malaysian and Philippine governments talked with the Rajah Muda but no positive results were obtained.

HOME IN SABAH

The Sultan of Sulu, Jamal ul Kiram III announced that his brother, the Rajah Muda and his men simply went home, as Sabah has been home to the people of Sulu since the 1650s when the Sultanate of Brunei gave Sabah and Palawan to the Sultanate of Sulu in compensation for helping the Brunei Sultan fight a war against a rival claimant to the Brunei throne.

In 1878, the Sultanate leased Sabah to Baron von Overbeck and Alfred Dent for an annual fee. Overbeck and Dent later transferred the lease to the British North Borneo Company. The company continued paying the rent.

All the while, the British government acknowledged the sovereignty of the Sulu Sultan over Sabah. In 1946, 4 days after the US gave the Philippines, which included Sulu, independence, Great Britain announced it was taking over the "sovereignty" of North Borneo by virtue of an agreement with the British North Borneo Company. The Philippine government protested.

In 1957, Great Britain gave its Malay colonies independence. The Malay sultanates in what is now West Malaysia formed themselves into a nation-state called MALAYA. The Sulu royalty protested and revoked its lease agreement to the British North Borneo Company.

In 1963, with the help of Britain, Malaya incorporated Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore to form the Federation of Malaysia. The Sulu Sultanate temporarily transferred its sovereign rights over Sabah to the Philippines. President Diosdado Macapagal protested the inclusion of Sabah into Malaysia and sent a delegation to London.

Officially, the Philippine government has not dropped its claim to Sabah. The Sabah state continues to pay rental fee, which it calls "cession money", to the Sultanate upto today.

On Feb. 26, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, in a press conference, called on the Sultan of Sulu to ask his brother and his men to stand down and go back to Sulu.. He sent ships to fetch the Moros. He also threatened to file charges against the Sultan and his people.

The President practically dropped the Philippines' claim on Sabah by calling it "a hopeless cause".

The Rajah Muda refused to budge as he wants Malaysia to start negotiating regarding Sabah.

According to a source in Sabah, a Tausug engineer who refused to be identified for fear of his safety, the Malaysian authorities had cordoned off the area since a week ago, and laid siege to the Moros.

"There is news blackout in Malaysia," he says. He said that aside from the 300 or so armed men around the Rajah Muda, there are around 800 armed men in a nearby town named Sampurna and at least 1000 more armed and ready in the nearby islands in the Sulu Sea,

He says that no news reporters are allowed in Lahad Datu.

A Filipino traveler in Kuala Lumpur said that there are many people sympathetic to the Kirams. "There are hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tausugs in Sabah and they support the Sultan," he said. - source

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Sulu sultan infuriates two countries

MANILA - From a dirty plastic chair in a rundown district of the Philippine capital, an ailing man claiming to be the head of an ancient Muslim dynasty whispers defiant decrees that infuriate a president.

Jamalul Kiram III, who insists he is the genuine "Sultan of Sulu," emerged from political obscurity this month after a few dozen of his armed followers sailed to neighboring Malaysia to stake an ancestral territorial claim.

The gunmen took control of a small coastal village in Sabah state on Borneo island, triggering a standoff with Malaysian security forces that has yet to be resolved and deeply embarrassing Philippine President Benigno Aquino.

Although he is weak from kidney disease that needs twice-weekly dialysis, Kiram, 74, insists he is willing to take on the Philippine and Malaysian governments to assert his family's claim to resource-rich Sabah.

Speaking in a voice barely above a whisper, he tells reporters who gather daily at his modest two-storey home that his "royal army" will never abandon Sabah.

"If they have to die, then they will die. They are sacrificing [themselves] for whatever may happen," he said this week after Aquino ordered Kiram to withdraw his men back to their southern Philippine island homes.

Kiram's house in Manila is festooned with banners proclaiming the "Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo," with a coat of arms showing two crossed swords, informing visitors on the pot-holed street that they are in royal territory.

Kiram speaks nostalgically of the Sulu sultanate's glory days before European colonization, when it ruled over Sabah and large parts of the southern Philippines.

The Kirams say they are descended from the prophet Mohammad, through a Mecca-born Arab who travelled to Southeast Asia.

The sultanate boasts that, in centuries past, it had active relations with other Asian kingdoms and even with China's Ming dynasty, while dominating the Sulu Sea with a powerful navy.

But the sultanate lost much of its influence to European colonial powers, officially losing Sabah in 1878 via a loosely worded contract to a British trading company that paved the way for it to be part of Malaysian territory.

Sabah has prospered under Malaysia.

But the remote islands of Sulu are now among the poorest parts of the Philippines, home to insurgents that continue to wage rebellion against the government while dreaming of an independent Muslim homeland.

While Kiram is comfortable with the sultanate remaining part of the Philippines, he says he sent his men into Malaysia so that his family and the national government's claims to Sabah will be recognized.

The Philippine government has never renounced its claim to Sabah, however Aquino and previous governments have not challenged Malaysia over the issue, preferring instead to pursue warm bilateral relations.

Although Kiram and his advisers insist money is not the motivation for their incursion into Malaysia, they have also signalled the "royal army" would stand down if the sultanate was given a greater share of the riches of Sabah.

Under the agreement in 1878 that saw the sultanate lose Sabah, Malaysia continues to give the Kiram family a nominal compensation payment of about 70,000 pesos ($1700) a year.

"The fare for a hired [pedicab] is even higher than their payment," Kiram said.

Since the 1960s, Kiram has largely lived in Manila—about 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the strife-torn Sulu islands—from where he has been able to look after his business interests.

Kiram said he owned large tracts of rice and coconut plantations, and he has a wide following among the local residents in Sulu.

He lost in his sole foray into national politics when he ran for the Senate in 2007 under the party of then-president Gloria Arroyo, who now stands accused of massive corruption during her time in power.

Kiram said he ran on her ticket to better establish his credentials to the title of Sultan of Sulu, amid a bewildering array of competing claims.

Aquino, seeking to pressure Kiram into submission, told reporters this week that the Sabah issue was clouded by questions as to who was the real sultan.

"They have at least five people who are claiming to be the Sultan of Sulu. So that is one of my first problems: who actually represents the Sultanate of Sulu?" Aquino said.

The Sulu provincial government lists on its website that one of Kiram's brothers is the sultan.

Ibrahim Bahjin, a doctor based in the southern Philippines, also insists he is the real sultan.

"All the brothers and nephews have been fighting for the sultanate. We belong to different royal houses. But I was proclaimed paramount sultan in 2004," he told AFP by phone. — Agence France-Presse

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Malaysian forces open fire on Pinoys in Sabah, Sulu Sultan's brother claims

Malaysian security forces on Friday morning started firing at a group of Filipinos holed up in a village in Sabah, the brother of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III said.

In his first interview with radio dzBB on Friday at around 10 a.m., Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, the leader of the group in Sabah, said they were shot at and had to "defend" themselves.

"Biglang pumasok sa amin, we had to defend ourselves," Raja Muda Agbimuddin said.

Asked what time the Malaysian forces allegedly moved in, Raja Muda Agbimuddin said, "oras na ito (at this time)."

Reached for a comment, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Raul Hernandez said "we are still validating as of the moment."

Hernandez said they only found out about the shooting from news reports.

The Malaysian Embassy through Raveendran Nair, First Secretary of Information and Public Diplomacy, told GMA News Online, "At the moment, the embassy has no comment. The embassy will not issue a statement on the matter."

Meanwhile, radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo reported that President Benigno Aquino III has summoned Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to a meeting amid reports about the alleged fighting in Sabah.

De Lima said the Philippine government has to be careful in giving statements on the matter at this time.

In an interview with radio dzBB, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office head Ramon Carandang said the president "is fully aware of what happened" and that he wants peaceful solution to the issue.

Gunshots in the background

Sounds of gunshots were heard in the background while the interview was being conducted. The first interview was cut, however.

In a report aired over GMA's News TV Live, reporter Mariz Umali quoted Kiram's spokesman Abe Idjirani in Manila as saying that Malaysian forces began surrounding the Filipinos at around 6 a.m.

He also said the first shot "was done by Malaysian police authorities."

"We would like to bring into your attention to an advice of our sultan his royal highness Jamal Kiram III that the hope that we had for nearly three weeks for a peaceful resolution of the Sabah standoff resulted now into the first fire perpetrated by the Malaysian police authorities," he said in an interview earlier in the day in Manila.

Wounded Filipinos

In a second interview with radio dzBB on Friday, Raja Muda Agbimuddin said he had received reports some of his men were wounded but said there will be no retreat or call for a ceasefire.

"Meron na," he said in an interview on dzBB radio when asked if some of his men had been wounded, several moments after a first interview was cut off.

When asked if there were members of the Malaysian police who were wounded, he said, "ewan ko."

In the News TV Live report, however, Umali said Raja Muda Agbimuddin claimed that two of their men were already wounded.

Shots were still heard in the background in the second interview with Raja Muda Agbimuddin.

When asked what his immediate plans were, he said, "Lalaban."

He added that he himself was trading shots with the Malaysian forces. "Tuloy pa rin," he added.

When asked if he would call a ceasefire, he said, "Sino mag-ceasefire? Sila mag-ceasefire."

Another member of the Sulu Sultan's family, Princess Jacel Kiram, told radio DZBB, "About a few minutes ago before this started, my uncle (Engr. Idjirani) was about to leave with the Malaysian ambassador kaya nagulat kami nang tumawag ang Sabah na nagsimula na ang putukan."

"Hindi na po natuloy ang pag-uusap dahil sa nangyari," the princess explained.

Defiant stance

The group had adopted a defiant stance after being surrounded by Malaysian forces, and when the first deadline for them to leave peacefully lapsed midnight of Tuesday.

The group, which claimed Sabah is their homeland, arrived in Sabah on February 9 and engaged Malaysian forces in a standoff.

Malaysian forces blocked off their food and water supplies but until Friday did not fire on them while waiting for a peaceful resolution to the situation.

On Thursday, Malaysia's The Star online reported the group of armed Filipinos coped with the blockade by living off houses abandoned by local villagers.

However, the report on Thursday said the Filipinos claimed they were "all fine" despite the land and sea blockade by Malaysian security forces.

Call for prayers

Idjirani, meanwhile, appealed for prayers for a peaceful solution.

The group and the police had been separated by a 300-meter distance, he said.
- with Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Kimberly Jane Tan, Suzette Dalumpines/VVP/KBK, GMA News

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Three dead as Sabah stand-off ends

Malaysian police escort the body of dead police commandos killed in a mortar attack during a stand-off with Sulu gunmen in Tanduo village near Lahad Datu on Sabah Friday. Three people including two police officers were killed on March 1 as Malaysian security forces ended a stand-off with Filipino gunmen over a territorial dispute in Sabah, the Philippine government said. - AFP PHOTO / BERNAMA NEWS AGENCY

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Sabah conflict: 10 Pinoys killed or no casualties?

While the camp of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III on Friday noon claimed that 10 Filipinos holed up at a village in Sabah had been killed, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday denied these reports.

The DFA said there were no Filipino casualties in a reported gunfight between the followers of a royal Muslim clan and Malaysian authorities in Sabah.

“We have talked to the Malaysian ambassador who confirmed that there was firing in Lahad Datu this morning. He likewise said that there are no casualties and that the firing had stopped,” DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

GMA News reporter Maki Pulido, who is in Sabah covering the standoff, however said she saw two bodies in a military vehicle.

"I saw 2 bodies with faces covered on floor of a military truck that came from Tanduao, Sabah," she said on Twitter.

In an interview aired over GMA News TV's Balitanghali, Hernandez said that the firing has ended and that there were no casualties.

"[Ayon sa impormasyon na] binigay sa amin ng ambassador [ng Malaysia], merong nangyaring firing earlier pero walang mga casualties at yung firing na yan ay huminto na, wala nang putukan," he said.

But he said the Malaysian ambassador did not inform him why and when the firefight began.

"We are hoping to get more details on this later," he said.

"Importante sa atin na matiyak ang kaligtasan ng ating mga kababayan doon sa Lahad Datu kaya patuloy tayong umaapila kay Sultan Jumalul na hikayatin na ang kanyang mga tauhan na kusang umuwi na sa kani-kanilang mga pamilya at tahanan sa Mindanao," he added.

Who fired first?

Hernandez said the DFA is still verifying who fired the first shot.

On the other hand, a ranking Malaysian government official on Friday afternoon contested the claim of the Sulu Sultan's camp that Malaysian security forces fired at them, saying it was the other way around.

In a post on his Twitter account, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said it was the Filipinos who fired at the Malaysian forces.

"(On) Lahad Datu, I confirm that our security forces have not taken a single shot but were shot at at 10 a.m. this morning!" he said.

Hishammuddin also said there had been "no deaths" as of Friday. "That I can confirm. No deaths," Malaysia's The Star online quoted him as saying.

Sultan's camp

A spokesman for the group of armed Filipinos has said 10 members of the group had been killed when police raided their camp.

Sultan of Sulu Rajah Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram sent the group, who are locked in a tense standoff with Malaysian forces, on Feb. 9 to the resource-rich territory they claim as their own, creating a diplomatic crisis between Manila and Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia regards the group as intruders.

Sabah, located south of Mindanao, is territorially disputed by the Philippines and Malaysia. A Philippine claim for sovereignty over Sabah has lain dormant for decades, but Malaysia continues to pay a yearly rent to the heirs of Sultan of Sulu, who claim to be the descendants of the original Filipino sultan who had control over the territory for centuries.

But the Malaysian home minister denied that police had fired a shot and the Philippine government said it had received no reports of casualties among the group, who are followers of the Sultanate of Sulu, in the southern Philippines.

The standoff with police has threatened to spark tension between the Philippines and Malaysia, whose ties have been periodically frayed by security and migration problems along their sea border. Both governments have urged the group to return home.

Abraham Idjirani, a spokesman for the group, told reporters in Manila that 10 members of the group had been killed and four wounded when Malaysian police raided the village where they have been holed up for more than two weeks.

Malaysia's The Star newspaper reported that at least two gunmen had been killed and three police officers wounded as of 1:00 p.m. on Friday.

At 2:00 p.m. on the same day, the newspaper reported that the casualty count has gone up to 10, matching the numbers provided by Kiram’s camp.

The reports also indicated that villagers near the area could hear shots being fired as late as 12.45 p.m.

At least two ambulances are are on standby outside the Sulu group’s camp, it added. The shootout also caused schools to close down.

The leader of the group earlier told Philippine radio they had been surrounded by Malaysian police, who have warned in recent days that a deadline for them to leave had passed.

"They are here, they entered our area so we have to defend ourselves. There's shooting already," Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, brother of the former Sultan of Sulu, told the radio station by telephone.

"We're surrounded," Kiram said. "We will defend ourselves."

Malaysian police could not be reached for comment.

Interior Secrertary Mar Roxas, the government official who has been designated a spokesman on the stand-off, said in a radio interview that the Philippine government was verifying reports of the fighting.

Ricky Carandang, a spokesman of President Aquino, said some of the group had tried to breach a cordon set up by the Malaysian security forces on Friday morning.

"There was a warning shot but there's no report of casualties, that was what we got and confirmed by the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs)," he told Reuters

The armed group is demanding recognition from Malaysia and renegotiation of the original terms of a lease on Sabah by the Sultanate to a British trading company in the 19th century. Malaysian officials have said the group's demands would not be met. - with reports from Kimberly Jane Tan/Michaela del Callar/Patricia Denise Chiu, Reuters/VVP/HS, GMA News

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LIFT SABAH FOOD BLOCKADE, DEADLINE

A word of caution to Malaysia. Malaysia should refrain from pushing the button. My recommendation is for Malaysia to LIFT its announced "deadline to vacate” and the food blockade imposed to scuttle the Sultanate's resolve. Extending it to a few more days won’t work. It will only lead to the brink.

Now that the Philippine government is grappling with the incident and has indicated that it will help handle the situation, it may be best for Malaysia to just leave the matter, for the meantime, to the Philippine side to resolve the so-called "stand off". THIS WILL NEED COOLING OFF TIME so deadlines won't help. I strongly suggest that the Philippine backchannels, official or otherwise, must work round the clock to convince Malaysia to LEAVE THE MATTER TO THE PHILIPPINE SIDE TO RESOLVE THIS. Time is of the essence. Malaysia must also be given a "graceful exit" of lifting its declared "deadline" by making it appear that it is merely acceding to a "friendly neighbor's" request. After all, this way Malaysia will pass on the onus of the problem to the Philippine side. And Filipinos, I know, will have a way of quietly resolving it in time. For the moment, this is a Filipino problem that only Filipinos can resolve.

MY OWN SABAH "ENCOUNTERS" --I had my own share of "encounters " with this ticklish SABAH issue when I was with government in Malacanang during FVR's and GMA's time.

I recall when the four countries under the BIMP EAGA (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines East Asian Growth Area) were set to sign a document setting up a facilitation center to be based in Kota Kinabalu, the document hit a snag when the address of the center was written in the draft Agreement as "Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia". The Philippine Foreign Affairs department in Padre Faura declined to affix the Philippine signature because it will indirectly accept Sabah as part of Malaysia.

Again, when backchannels were suggesting that we open a Philippine consulate in Sabah ostensibly to protect the Filipinos there (due to their numbers and recurring problems), our government firmly but courteously declined. A Philippine Consular Office in Sabah can be interpreted to mean that we officially acknowledge Sabah as within Malaysian territory.

All of these were done discreetly but "with grace and aplomb", cognizant of the Philippine pending claim but balancing with the imperatives of international diplomacy.

On the Sultanate of Sulu side, there were behind-the-scene efforts to adroitly handle the Kirams to keep them assured that they were "not sidelined” and kept them from feeling aggrieved and that we were not somehow squandering away their proprietary interests they held dear. This worked during FVR and GMA's time. Remember one of the Kirams was even included in the previous Administration's senatorial slate? Remember one of the Kirams in the recent past was given a high position in the sports commission? That was the whole point! How the Aquino government handled this now, I have no way of knowing at all.

For President Aquino to publicly accuse recently some personalities of conspiracy in allegedly staging this Sabah "stand off" scenario to torpedo the MILF peace negotiations is, with due respects to the President, too haphazard and premature for a head of state to do at this early stage. There are many factors at play.

NOT ON RADAR ---As part of my BIMP EAGA tasks in the past, as the highest Philippine official, I had traveled several times to Sabah together with Philippine government officials and the private sector. There were no hassles at all and we were dealing with our neighbors in purely economic engagements. Political, like sovereignty issues were not on our radar screen.

BIMP EAGA, as a matter of fact was set up by President Ramos and Prime Minister Mahathir (who came to Davao just to launch it) to emphasize the primacy and need for economic cooperation amongst neighboring countries in the south. In the process, the political issues took a back seat, effectively relegating "sovereignty issues" in the "back burners". In fact, it became a non-issue.

GOOD NEIGHBOR --- Now that the "cat is out of the bag", Sabah will be a lingering issue for sometime. No doubt it will have a bearing on our relations with Malaysia next door, which has been a good neighbor in the ASEAN and BIMP EAGA sphere. It will have security implications. It has international ramifications. It may affect in some way the on-going peace negotiations with the MILF where ancestral domain issues which deal on territorial claims for the Bangsamoro are major sticky points. With the public resurrection of the Sultanate claim, the question begs to be answered: why is the ancestral domain claim of the MILF purportedly in representation of all Bangsamoro EXCLUDING Sabah when there is historical basis for such claim? Of course, for obvious reasons, Malaysia's earnest and key role as peace talks facilitator will be put under cloud. For sure, MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari who still nurses some ill feelings on the way he was treated by the Malaysians during his arrest and detention there, will use this development as a platform to pursue his "claim Sabah" campaign. His disdain on the Malaysian- brokered MILF Framework Agreement is too public to ignore. I can't help but suspect that some of Chairman Nur's MNLF elements are part of the armed contingent now in Lahad Datu.

SECURITY IMPLICATIONS-- But I am more worried about the effect of all this on our relations with Malaysia, our next-door neighbor which has been a good ally in the ASEAN hemisphere. It has also serious security implications for the Philippines because we have "opened our barracks" to Malaysians who know exactly the AFP capabilities (and weaknesses), especially in Mindanao with Malaysian military forces actively engaged in ceasefire work in every nook of our southern region. They know every detail of our AFP's operational status in the south, to the last detachment on the ground. . Of course, armed hostilities between us and Malaysia is far fetched but it's good to point this out for our own reality check.

MALAYSIAN ELECTIONS TOO -- Now, the Aquino administration is confronted with it and is compelled to deal with it. The timing of the eruption of the issue during our own May election campaign period is also unfortunate. We know how it is when some political candidates will use this as an issue in the campaigns.

Many may not be aware of this but there is ALSO the forthcoming elections in Malaysia THIS YEAR . The controversy will be a factor, no doubt. This may be internal Malaysian matter but I am informed reliably that there is some quiet rancor and insecurity amongst Tausugs who are in Sabah now and who are not even involved in the so-called "stand off". The ROYAL INQUISITION COMMISSION in Malaysia had started to look closely at the IMMIGRATION CARDS (IC) system that granted resident or legal status to some Filipino Muslims, mostly Tausugs from Sulu as part of some political move to downscale the voting strength of Sabahans in the forthcoming Malaysian elections. Many TAUSUGS, mostly Sultanate "subjects" who are long time residents there were affected. The campaign was the cause of many forced repatriations. My calculation is that while the actual body count involved in the "stand off" is said to have 200 to 300 warm bodies, the feeling of insecurity and grievance is pervasive amongst many Sabah residents who came from Mindanao. THEY ARE POTENTIAL "ACTORS" IF THE SCENARIO IS MISHANDLED.

I was also reliably informed that Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, the Former Deputy Minister of Malaysia who was charged and detained but was acquitted of sodomy charges, had met sometime ago with Chairman Nur Misuari (also charged and detained and also acquitted for rebellion). They did not talk about their cases for sure. . Yes, they discussed this "IC" cleansing issue in Sabah. What came out of that meeting was still unclear.

WAY FORWARD --- One way forward is to pursue it as "proprietary" issue to protect the rights of the Sultanate of Sulu. From my own assessment, the Sultanate appears insecure due to the reported approaching "expiration" of the lease payments. It is also aggrieved because Malaysia reportedly increased the amount of payments for Sarawak, another tenement similar to Sabah's situation. The IC "cleansing" which has negative viral effect on Filipino Muslims in Sabah and its ramifications in Malaysian politics is another matter. Let's not forget the Misuari-MNLF factor. These must all be taken into account.

MARHATABAT -- A final word. A premature and reckless move by Malaysian authorities, even as a public avowal of its non-negotiable policy of Malaysian territorial integrity may trigger a more complicated scenario. I am not making this up or sound threatening. But it is publicly known that the TAUSUGS of Sulu (and many of them are now EMBEDDED in communities in Sabah) value their honor and dignity. Muslims refer to this as "marhatabat". They value this more than life. USE OF FORCE TO RESOLVE THIS WILL ONLY WORSEN THINGS. - source

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The Moro Sultanates

The Sultanate of MAGUINDANAO

The Sultanate of Maguindanao, the lower valley (sa ilud) kingdom, was a harbor sultanate relying heavily on trade and naval power. At the height of its power in the 17th century under Sultan Qudarat and Sultan Barahman, Maguindanao was the acknowledged overlord of all Mindanao, Sulu and even Borneo. The last Maguindanao sultan, Sultan Mangigin, died in the 1920s/30s during the American Occupation.

The Kingdom of BUAYAN

The Sultanate of Buayan, the upper valley (sa raya) kingdom, relied on its rich agricultural lands and had the support of a great number of non-Muslim Malay tribes. The ruler of Buayan chose to stick to the old title of Rajah (a Hindu word for King) to emphasize the fact that the House of Buayan dates back to the Sri Vijaya and Majapahit empires that encompassed most of Southeast Asia. Buayan’s power was eclipsed by Maguindanao during the time of Datu Buisan, Qudarat’s father. Buayan almost regained its old glory when it practically wiped out the remaining Spanish forces in the late 1890s. When the Americans came, Buayan led the fight in Mindanao. Unfortunately, Datu Ali, the Rajah Muda of Buayan, who was about to finally unite Maguindanao and Buayan, was killed by the Americans through treachery of some Moros. The powerful non-royal Moro Chinese datus took over the leadership of the Pulangi and collaborated with the Americans. Thus ended the rule of the royals in Maguindanao and Buayan.

The Confederation of RANAO sultanates

Near the center of the island is the Lake (Ranao), the highest lake in the Philippines. Around this lake live the M’ranaos. Contrary to what some people believe, the Ranao sultanates were never subservient to the Maguindanao royalty. Datu Dimasangkay, the uncle of Qudarat, married into M’ranao/Iranun royalty. From then on, the M’ranaos/Iranuns became firm and loyal allies of Maguindanao royalty. Perhaps it was because of the M’ranao/Iranun connection that Buayan’s power was eclipsed by Maguindanao in the Pulangi area. It must be noted that when Qudarat was defeated by the Spaniards, he retreated to his relatives among the M’ranaos/Iranuns.

The Sultanate of SULU

The Sultanate of Sulu was founded ca. 1400 by Syed Abu Bakr, an Arab who claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad, p.b.u.h. Syed Abu Bakr took on the regnal name Sharif Hashem, perhaps to emphasize his claim to the Hashemite bloodline. The Sultan of Sulu held sway over the Sulu Archipelago, Palawan, and later North Borneo (now the Malaysian state of Sabah). The Zamboanga peninsula’s ruler changed depending upon the vicissitudes of fortune. Maguindanao, Sulu and the Spanish took turns in ruling Zamboanga, known locally as Samboangan.

PALAWAN

Palawan Island used to be a territory of the Sultanate of Brunei. In the 1660s, after the successful intervention of the Sulu Sultan in the dynastic quarrel in Brunei, Sultan Muaddin of Brunei gave Sabah and Palawan to the Sultanate of Sulu.

In December 1893, due to old age, Sultan Harun ar-Rashid abdicated in favor of his cousin Jamal ul-Kiram II. He transferred his residence to Palawan and used the title “Sultan Jubilado de Palawan“. The Spanish continued paying him his monthly honorarium as sultan as per their agreement. He died in April 1899. Thus, at the end of the Spanish era and the beginning of the American era, a Sulu Sultan reigned over Palawan.

SABAH

Sabah used to be a territory of the Sultanate of Brunei. In the 1660s, after the successful intervention of the Sulu Sultan in the dynastic quarrel in Brunei, Sultan Muaddin of Brunei gave Sabah and Palawan to the Sultanate of Sulu.

On Jan. 22, 1878, the Sultan Jamal ul Azam of Sulu granted “pajak” (lease or trade monopoly) to Baron von Overbeck over Sabah or North Borneo. The Sulu royalty has NEVER given up its claim over Sabah or North Borneo.

The State of Sabah still pays its annual rent to the sulu royals.

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Car bomb hits southern Thailand

A car-bomb explosion in Yala, a city in southern Thailand, has injured 18 people, including four soldiers, police say.

Sunday's blast started a large fire that swept through nearby shops.

Yala is the main city in one of three provinces near the border with Malaysia that have been under emergency rule since 2005.

"There was a bomb hidden in a fire extinguisher in a pick-up truck parked in front of a grocery shop near Siam City Bank," a local police officer said.

Of the casualties, four were seriously wounded, including three of the soldiers, authorities said.

Fighters in Thailand's south have waged a violent campaign since 2004, leaving more than 4,400 people dead in near-daily attacks.

Violence has intensified recently, with a bomb attack in Yala province killing nine villagers last month, and an attack on a military base a week earlier killing four soldiers.

Three people, including a teacher, were shot dead and their bodies burned in neighbouring Pattani province on Thursday.

On January 18, the Thai government extended emergency rule in the country's south for an additional three months, despite rights groups being concerned about the powers the law gives the military.

A security force of more than 60,000 is stationed in the region, battling the fighters. - source

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Thailand and rebels agree to peace talks

Thailand's government has agreed to start talks with a major Muslim rebel group, marking a breakthrough in efforts to end a worsening conflict in the country's south that has claimed more than 5,000 lives since 2004.

The agreement was signed in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday between representatives of the Thai government and the National Revolution Front (BRN) rebels, ahead of talks between Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak.

Yingluck was to meet later in the day her host, Malaysian prime minister, for annual talks set to include the nine-year unrest and the possibility of Malaysia hosting future Thai negotiations with the rebels.

"God-willing, we'll do our best to solve the problem," Hassan Tain, a Malaysian-based representative of the rebel group, said.

"We will tell our people to work together to solve the problem."

BRN is one of several shadowy groups blamed for the unrest in Thailand. It remains to be seen whether other groups will fall in line.

Malaysian officials said details of the agreement would be made public after the two government leaders meet.

Malaysia's northern states border Thailand's southern provinces.

'First step'

Successive Thai governments and the military have made contact with rebel groups and claimed some success in tracking down key operatives but they have never openly held talks with the various rebel groups that operate in the south.

Violence has occurred nearly every day in the country's three southernmost provinces since the insurgency erupted in 2004, killing thousands of people.

In recent weeks security forces as well as teachers have been targeted by rebels because they are seen as representatives of the government of the Buddhist-dominated nation.

Rebel groups have never clearly stated their demands, but they are thought to want more autonomy or a separate state in a region that was part of a Malay sultanate until annexed by Thailand in 1909.

"This is the first step. The start of a peace dialogue with representatives from Muslim rebel groups," Paradorn Pattanathabutr, secretary-general of the National Security Council (NSC), told Reuters by phone from Kuala Lumpur.

Paradorn said earlier this week fewer than 1,000 rebels were living on the Malaysian side of the border.

The agreement follows an escalation of violence in recent months. Sixteen rebels were killed in an attack on a Thai  marine base on February 13, with no loss of life among the marines.

Malaysia, which helped arrange a peace deal between the Philippine government and Muslim rebels in October, has brought the Thai rebel groups to the table and appears set to play a mediation role in the talks. - source

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Gov’t intel eyes 3 groups abetting Sulu sultan’s claim

Whether the heirs of the sultanate of Sulu acted on their own to reclaim Sabah or were instigated by an external force to do so, one thing is certain, according to government intelligence sources: It was a business that proved too big for the heirs to handle on their own.

The sources said that the Philippine government’s policy on Sabah is to keep it in the back burner.

But apparently “some people” want to push it forward now. And why now, at this time, is one of the questions government intelligence is looking into.

The sources consistently mentioned three groups that appear to have taken advantage of the decision of the Kirams to pursue their Sabah claim.

“These are groups that wanted to ride on the Kirams’ pursuit with their own interests in mind,” one of the sources said.

Another source added: “There are a lot who can gain from this, not just in the Philippines but in Malaysia as well.”

These “external factors,” as an Inquirer source described the groups, are one small faction that is in it for the money, an anti-Aquino administration group, and the Malaysian political opposition.

“The Kirams planned to pursue their claim as early as last year. But they went to Lahad Datu also on the instigation of these groups,” the intelligence officer said.

The small group supposedly goaded the Kirams to ask Malaysia for a higher rent on Sabah. If Malaysia gives in, this small group would allegedly have a share of the increase.

The anti-administration group simply wants to discredit President Aquino and is using the peace process as a cause of disenchantment for the Kirams.

“All those who do not like P-Noy (the President’s nickname) have joined forces. This is one way to really test how this administration will react (to such an issue). Whatever happens in Malaysia, there will be a backlash on us,” one source said.

“In a way, whoever wants to disrupt the peace process or the gains of President Aquino has already won,” the source added.

The third group is allegedly the Malaysian political opposition, which is gearing up for general elections that may be called before June.

The intelligence officer said that one member of the Malaysian political opposition allied with Anwar Ibrahim was running for a post in Sabah.

“Apparently, this politician was one of those who spoke with the Kirams. He supposedly gave the opposition’s support to the Kirams’ claim to Sabah,” the source said.

November meeting

The source also believed that in their meeting in November last year, the Kirams decided to “reclaim Sabah or at least ask for a compensation for Sabah that is commensurate to the land’s value today, and for the royal family to be given due recognition by Malaysia.”

But it is being Tausug that is keeping Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, his family, and their subjects stubbornly pressing their renewed claim to Sabah, even to the extent of defying President Aquino, one of the Inquirer sources said.

“This is the last stand of Sultan Jamalul. Being Tausug, they already gave their word they would pursue their claim. This is now do or die for them just to keep their word of honor,” the source, a senior military officer, told the Inquirer.

But for another security administrator analyzing the events of the past three weeks, the Kirams appear to be quite edgy of late.

“They are confused. The government is hopeful that we can buy more time, find a diplomatic way out,” the source said, referring to the government’s efforts to help settle the standoff between Malaysian security forces and an armed group led by Jamalul’s brother, Agbimuddin Kiram, in Tanduao village in Lahad Datu town now in its third week.

Kiram unity

The Inquirer’s sources are from the diplomatic and defense establishments. They asked not to be named as they were not authorized to speak to journalists about their analysis of developments in the so-called journey home to Sabah of the Kirams.

The source said the Kirams decided to unite because they felt left out of the peace negotiations between the Aquino administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which signed a premilinary peace deal last October.

Calling gov’t attention

“The Kirams wanted to get the attention of the Philippine government,” the source said.

“For so many years, the family felt they have been exploited in politics. Sultan Jamalul was goaded to run for senator in 2010 but he lost. Then their letter to President Aquino (in 2010 before he assumed office) got lost,” the source said.

The source said the Kirams and their followers “conceived the details of the plan to go to Lahad Datu” in late January this year.

“In February, a small group of the Kirams’ followers left for Lahad Datu, followed by Raja Muda Agbimuddin,” the source said.

The estimated 70 firearms now in the hands of the group holed up in Tanduao are owned by residents in Lahad Datu, Tausug and Badjao holding Malaysian identification cards, the source said.

Malaysian security forces have encircled Agbimuddin’s group but are holding action, with the grace period for the group to leave having been extended three times and a fourth being requested by the Philippine government.

Malaysians careful

The Inquirer’s military source said the impasse continues because the Malaysians are extra careful in dealing with Agbimmudin’s group.

“They are all Muslims and they know that if there is violence, it would go on forever. There are 800,000 Filipinos in Sabah. It would be a huge problem in Sabah if violence erupts. The Malaysian security forces may end up dealing with guerrillas or a rido,” the source said, using a Muslim term for clan war. - source

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Travails of the Sulu Sultanate

It is quite a sad commentary that the once-mighty royal house of Sulu has had to resort to what Malaysians see as extra-legal means to impose what it steadfastly believes as a simple misinterpretation of a treaty signed over a century ago that has led to decades-long injustice.

Unlike the nine sultanates under the federal states of Malaysia, unfortunately, the Sulu sultanate and its other counterparts in Mindanao, the Maguindanao and Maranao royal houses, have not been accorded a distinct legal status in the country’s geopolitical set-up.

Just how mighty was the Sulu sultanate? Consider this: in 1417 Sultan Paduku Batara of Jolo visited Zhu Di, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty (best known as the Yongle emperor) at the reestablished Imperial Palace in Beijing. Batara brought with him 300 of his followers including his sons Dumahan, Wenhala and Andulu. This visit was intended to strengthen trade relations between China (given her vast supplies of porcelain and ceramics traded in all of Asia and the Arab world at the time) and Sulu, which was right along the sea trade route that Chinese merchants were navigating since around AD 900.

On his way back to Sulu, however, the sultan fell ill and died in Dezhou, Shandong Province. His remains and those of his sons Wenhala and Andulu who stayed behind with him (eventually siring generations that still exist today) are still there in Shandong, where an epitaph appropriately commemorates his visit. Emperor Yongle himself reportedly ordered a period of mourning to mark the untimely demise of what would have been a commercial partner in the burgeoning maritime trade in ceramics, iron and silk in exchange for gold, beeswax, slaves and other priced commodities from islands in southeast Asia. Trade relations did not die with the sultan, however, as Dumahan, his eldest son, returned with his escorts to Jolo, taking over his late father’s throne.

That the Sulu sultanate was welcomed into the Forbidden City in Beijing is testament to its standing in the maritime trading community of the time and of its wealth and resources, coming all the way from faraway Sulu just to enkindle ties with China. The Yongle reign, incidentally, is best remembered as the period when Admiral Zheng He (or Cheng Ho) embarked on a period of exploration, between 1405 and 1433) that brought hundreds of Chinese ships to Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East and parts of Africa.

The might of the sultanate would be seen continuously during much of the Spanish period as Jolo increasingly emerged as the center of slave trading from the 1600s to around the 1860s, without the sultanate being directly involved, as it were, in the raids that were devastating coastal settlements in the Visayas and Luzon. The story goes that these raids were actually carried out by a band of Muslims from the Lanao area of Mindanao who had moved to the Sulu archipelago, somewhere near Basilan, in the island of Balangingi. These people evacuated to the area following a devastating volcanic eruption or some cataclysmic event. A kind of tacit agreement seemed to have then there emerged between the sultanate and the men of Balangingi wherein Jolo would become “drop-off” point for all captives to be sold to buyers from all over the region.

At was at this point, some time in the early 1600s, when Spanish authorities became keenly interested in subjugating the sultanate, if only to end the decimation of settlements, most of whose native inhabitants had had recently converted to Christianity only to be captured and sold into life-long slavery. At least two important military campaigns were eventually carried out toward this end, one in the 1638 (the Corcuera military expedition to Jolo) and the other in 1848 (the mildly successful Claveria military expedition). The latter, while successful in defeating the Balangingi raiders and in placing the Sulu Sultanate on the verge of subjugation, strangely ended with Gov. Gen. Narciso Claveria leaving post-haste for Manila after routing the Moro fleet, without establishing a permanent foothold in Jolo. It took other governors-general to continue the drive to bring the sultanate under Spanish rule even as the French and the British were offering huge sums of money to the reigning sultan, Jamalul A’lam, to buy or lease whole islands of the Sulu archipelago, including that of Basilan.

In 1878, two treaties were eventually concluded by A’lam, one with the British to lease (‘padjak’, see my column last week) and another, a peace agreement with the Spanish resulting in the establishment of a Spanish fort/garrison in Siasi, occupying about 6 hectares of the area, in exchange for recognition by Spain of the sultanate and rent in the amount of 1,500 Mexican silver pesos annually. When the Americans arrived in Jolo in 1899 to claim the garrison (which the Spaniards, perhaps to spite the Americans, hastily gave to the sultanate), the reigning head, Sultan Jamalul Kiram II, insisted that a separate treaty be drawn as the Americans were a different entity from the Spaniards. This agreement became known as the Bates Treaty of 1899 (named after the American Gen. John Bates who led the negotiations) where America promised to pay rent to the sultanate in exchange for quelling Moro resistance.

A few more agreements followed the wake of this treaty, and this column is too short to tackle them one by one. This came as the Sultanate was left in the 1930s without a clear heir as Jamalul Kiram II died without any children. While a succession struggle ensued, new players emerged as the post-war years marched on, marked most especially by the ascendance of the Tausug-dominant Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) led by Nur Misuari, which challenged the traditional governing role of the sultanate. It was at that point that president Ferdinand Marcos in 1973 propped up the sultanate once again, giving it due recognition to use it to serve as the alternative power center amid the growing MNLF threat at the time.

Since then, given its long history and its status as a distinct though hitherto silent corporate entity in the Sulu archipelago, the sultanate, in asserting what it thinks is fully justified, has finally emerged from the shadows. I do not think this impasse will end pretty soon even if those in Lahad Datu will be convinced to return to Jolo. Rather, this is just the beginning of another chapter in the colorful journey of the Royal House of Sulu. - source

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The Sulu-Sabah saga

Jamalul Kiram III, Sultan of Sulu in the southern Philippines, is in Manila ailing and undergoing dialysis. Meanwhile hundreds of his followers are lying low in the village of Tanduao in Lahad Datu in Sabah, Malaysia. Having arrived there by swift boats, they intend to stay there for keeps, unless the sultan recalls them.

Sabah once clearly belonged to the Sultanate of Sulu. To the sultan and his followers, that has not changed. The government of Malaysia isn’t amused. In defence of its sovereignty over Sabah it would deport the “intruders” from Sulu, using armed force if needed.

It’s sad that the claim of the Sulu Sultanate to Sabah has come to this. A monkey wrench in the relations between the Philippines, of which Sulu is a province, and Malaysia, of which Sabah is a state. The butt of mindless assertions by grandstanding politicians, pundits and hecklers.

To me it’s sad that Jamalul Kiram III, Sultan of Sulu, is now an ailing, angry old man. I remember him as healthy, forbearing and in good humour. I talked with him for most of a day in 1988 — I’m sure it was 1988 because my son Jamaal was born early that year and Jamalul was pleased to have him as his namesake.

Jamalul confided that the lease money that Malaysia paid regularly was something like a curse: there wasn’t much of it and so many members of the royal clan claimed a share of it and there was no pleasing them. He said he was considering negotiating for a substantial lump sum that could make a difference to the lives of his followers and being done with the sultanate’s proprietary rights to Sabah. He said nothing about sovereignty rights.

I haven’t seen him since that interview. Since then he has changed his mind. He has every right to do that. I only hope he has not fallen prey to political interests seeking to disrupt the peace process brokered by Malaysia between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the government of the Philippines.

The Philippine claim to sovereignty over Sabah is no joke. It has a documented legal basis. In 1685 the Sultan of Brunei gifted sovereignty over Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu for the latter’s help in defeating what would have been a successful rebellion. In 1878, the Sultan of Sulu signed a document “leasing” Sabah to a British company for a sum to be paid in perpetuity. Over the years, the British government succeeded the company and was in turn succeeded by the Malaysian government as administrator to Sabah, which had meanwhile become a state of Malaysia.

According to Malaysia, the word “padjak” in the document meant “to cede,” and on that basis it exercised sovereignty over the territory. But it continues to respect the proprietary rights of the Sultan of Sulu over the territory; that’s why it keeps paying the Sultanate money that the latter, interpreting “padjak” differently, considers “rental” for the use of territory over which it had sovereignty. That “sovereignty” has been passed to the Philippine government.

The dispute has led to convulsions of history: a bungled Philippine plot to invade and annex Sabah, and a secessionist rebellion in Mindanao helped at its launching by Malaysia. Between the Philippine government and the secessionists, there have been peace talks and agreements, the latest having been brokered, ironically, by Malaysia — but the controversy survives.

I don’t know how the issue will be resolved. I trust the two governments will settle it through diplomacy or adjudication, while considering the wishes of all concerned, including the Sultan of Sulu and the people of Sabah — otherwise neither government deserves to be part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that calls itself a politico-security community.

Neither should ignore the Sultanate. It once helped shape the history of the region. It deserves some respect even today. — thejakartaglobe.com (By Jamil Maidan Flores)

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Manila asks Kuala Lumpur to extend deadline

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines has asked Malaysia to extend by “several days” the grace period it has given to armed followers of the sultan of Sulu to leave Sabah peacefully.

Malaysian security forces were set to end the standoff on Wednesday as the group ignored last-minute attempts by Malaysian and Philippine authorities to get them to leave the village of Tanduao in Lahad Datu town peacefully and return to Sulu.

The group, led by Agbimuddin Kiram, a brother of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, remained defiant and had rejected the latest request by President Aquino and Malaysia’s emissaries, although three deadlines given to them were extended, with the last ending on midnight Wednesday.

There were reports that military troops had replaced the police forces encircling Tanduao, but the fresh Philippine request for an extension of the grace period may have delayed action to round up the sultan’s followers.

President Aquino appealed to Jamalul on Tuesday to order his followers home or “face the full force of the law.”

Aquino reminded Jamalul that under the Constitution, the Philippines renounced war as a policy to assert territorial claims.

The President said he had ordered a study of the Philippine claim to Sabah.

On Wednesday Jamalul told reporters that he was thankful about the presidential order to study the Sabah claim, but resentful of the threat thrown at him.

“What crime did I commit?” he asked.

“I did not order my brother to go to Sabah. It’s their own free will to go there and to settle down there, believing that the area is part of their homeland,” he said.

Sultan angry

Jamalul said he was angry with the way the Aquino administration was handling the Sabah question.

“I am angry right now because we are being taken for granted,” he said.

Jamalul’s wife, Princess Fatima Cecilia Kiram, said the family was offended that the President questioned the legality of Jamalul’s reign as sultan of Sulu.

She said Aquino’s questioning the lineage of Jamalul on Tuesday was made out of “ignorance and incompetence.”

“I’m really sad [about] the ignorance and incompetence. But I cannot fault the government for its ill-advised (stand on the Sabah question). They didn’t study their lesson well,” she said.

She said that instead of making threats, Malacañang should send an official representative to the Kirams and start the formal talks with Malaysia.

Come home, we talk

But Malacañang said the President was unwilling to talk with Jamalul as long as the sultan’s followers were in Sabah.

“You don’t hold a gun to my head and negotiate. You know, it’s like you’re putting a gun to my head and telling me, ‘Let’s talk.’ That’s not the way decent people do negotiations. You want us to know your claim, you cooperate,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told a news briefing at the Palace on Wednesday.

“The President has said, ‘Come back home and we will talk.’ But you’re asking me to talk to you while [your] people are in Sabah [and] there’s a [possibility of] violence. That’s not acceptable to us,” Lacierda said.

He said the government could not be faulted if the defiance of Jamalul resulted in violence in Sabah.

“We have sent emissaries. We’ve asked the Malaysians to extend the deadline. We will continue to press for a peaceful resolution, but the ball is in their court,” Lacierda said.

The latest Philippine request for an extension of the deadline went through on Tuesday evening, just as the third extension ended, according to Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario.

“I put through a request for another extension. I said we should be given more time precisely for processing that information, to give the Kirams a chance to think about what the President had said,” Del Rosario said, referring to Aquino’s message to Jamalul that he call his followers home or face the consequences of his action under Philippine laws.

Del Rosario said he did not specify the length of the fresh extension.

“I asked for several days,” he said.

He described the situation in Lahad Datu as “quiet,” probably due to the Philippines’ request for a fresh extension of the deadline.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Raul Hernandez reiterated the government’s appeal to Jamalul to call his followers home.

“What we hope to happen is that [Jamalul Kiram] will order his people to leave Lahad Datu, take care of their safety, welfare and security because we don’t want anybody to get hurt or to die [there],” Hernandez said.

Where’s ship?

“The ball is now in the court of the sultan of Sulu and it is his responsibility to make sure that no harm will happen to his people who are in Lahad Datu. And the only way to do this is to order them to withdraw and come back to their homes in Mindanao,” he said.

The government has a ship standing by at Tawi-Tawi to pick up followers of the sultan who will decide to leave Tanduao and return home.

Confusion about the location of the vessel placed it off Sabah waters, but the DFA clarified on Wednesday that the ship was still in Tawi-Tawi awaiting diplomatic clearance to sail to Lahad Datu.

Del Rosario himself said Malaysia had yet to respond to the Philippine request to clear the ship to dock at Lahad Datu.

Military steps in?

Acting Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, one of the government’s emissaries to the Kiram clan, said Wednesday he was verifying reports that military troops had replaced Malaysian police in Tanduao.

He said that if the information was correct, it meant Malaysia was set to end the standoff by arresting Agbimuddin and his group and deporting them.

Hataman said the Aquino administration wanted to avoid bloodshed, but the Kirams continued to reject appeals to them to leave Sabah peacefully.

He said that if the Kirams ended the standoff peacefully, they could expect the government not to take any action against them.

But the Philippine National Police chief said on Wednesday that Jamalul’s followers would be immediately arrested if they returned from Sabah with their firearms.

PNP Director General Alan Purisima said the police were “on top of the situation” and had sent teams to secure the senior members of the Kiram family.

Purisima said the PNP was also monitoring the movements of the supporters of the Kirams to prevent an escalation of the tension in Sabah.

“We are preventing more people from going to Sabah to ease the tension. The problem is Kiram’s followers went there carrying firearms,” he said.

If they returned still carrying their firearms, they would be arrested immediately, he said.

“They will be charged with illegal possession of firearms and [for violating the election gun ban]. They can be arrested at once since the crime is being committed in the presence of law enforcers,” Purisima said.

Set to end standoff

Malaysia’s Deputy Police Inspector General Kahlid Abu Bakar said security forces might carry out the forced deportation procedure within 24 hours from Wednesday.

“We are set to end the standoff,” he told the Malaysia Chronicle newspaper.

Gunshots were heard in Tanduao, according to reports published in Malaysian newspapers Wednesday.

The reports said Sabah Police Commissioner Hamza Taib heard the gunshots.

But Hamza said the gunshots did not come from the security forces surrounding the village.

“They may be aimed at animals or warning shots [from the Tausug],” Hamza said, referring to Agbimuddin and his group.

Ready for attack

Hamza confirmed that military units had joined the security forces encircling Tanduao in preparation for the arrest of the “intruders.”

But he said there was no actual order yet to proceed with the arrest of the group from Sulu.

Hamza said the security forces would never strike a compromise with Agbimuddin’s group.

In a phone conversation with the Malaysian newspaper The Star on Tuesday, Agbimuddin said his group was ready to face an attack.

“We are fine. We expect the Malaysian forces to attack today. We are ready to defend ourselves, we are not afraid,” Agbimuddin said.

Asked why he thought the group would be attacked, he replied: “Because it is shown on TV and was on the radio that the deadline is over. We are not afraid because we know we are right. This is our land.”

Asked if he was not afraid as he had only about 30 armed men, Agbimuddin said: “We are prepared, we are waiting. We will not attack (but) we will defend ourselves.”

Open to negotiations

In an interview with Radyo Inquirer 990AM on Wednesday, Agbimuddin said he was open to negotiations with the Malaysian government to end the standoff peacefully.

“We really want negotiations, so long as our rights are not taken away from us,” Agbimuddin said in Filipino.

Reacting to President Aquino’s threat to arrest those responsible for the crisis and bring charges against them, Agbimuddin said: “Why should we be arrested? What crime did we commit? We believe we have committed no crime under Philippine laws, as we are doing what we believe is right. I believe there is no law against fighting for what is right.”—With reports from Frances Mangosing and Maila Ager, Inquirer.net; Julie Alipala and Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao; and The Star/Asia News Network

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The riches of Sabah

Half a century after the Philippine government formally staked its claim to Sabah in behalf of the Sultanate of Sulu, the history of that claim may yet take an ugly turn following the standoff between the followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, who have been holing up in Sabah to press their claim to it, and Malaysian authorities.

Holed up in Lahad Datu since Feb. 12, some 180 armed and unarmed followers of Kiram face possible arrest for defying President Aquino’s appeal to return to the Philippines. They also face violent extraction should the Malaysian authorities decide to use force to remove them.

No comparison. Chart shows the disparity between the Philippines’ income of P440 million a year from oil production for the period 2012 to 2015 compared to Malaysia’s royalty of about P12.5 billion a year from Sabah’s oil production.

No comparison. Chart shows the disparity between the Philippines’ income of P440 million a year from oil production for the period 2012 to 2015 compared to Malaysia’s royalty of about P12.5 billion a year from Sabah’s oil production.

The issues are sensitive, convoluted and involve the basis and motivation of the claim, the heirs, the payment of rental fees, and Malaysia’s role in the government’s peace deal with the Muslims in Mindanao.

The heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu had previously indicated that they wanted an increase in the annual “rental fees” that they had been receiving from the Malaysian government, which is 5,300 Malaysian ringgit or roughly P70,000.

One of the Sultan’s sons, Abdula Kiram, once lamented how measly the annual rental was compared to the billions of dollars that Sabah had been generating for the Malaysian government.

Hence, the Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and his followers could be eying a piece of the oil and gas pie that Malaysia has been monopolizing.

Sabah is just a fourth of the Philippines’ landmass, yet it is richly blessed with oil and gas, contributing 14 percent of Malaysia’s natural gas and 30 percent of its crude oil reserves.

Sabah’s oil and gas industry has been operating for over 30 years, and in 2009 its oil and gas were the biggest contributor to the island’s gross domestic product.

Sabah’s oil reserves were calculated at 1.5 billion barrels in 2011, but new oilfields have been discovered since to raise the estimate substantially. The island’s gas reserves have been estimated at 11-trillion cubic feet, with four new oilfields being found in the waters in the last two years.

In 2011 statement a Dr. Hiew King Cheu claimed that, as of March 31, 2011, Sabah had 15 oil wells producing as much as 192,000 barrels a day. At that output, he said, Sabah was actually producing the equivalent of P696 million a day.

“If the petroleum royalty payable to Sabah is 5 percent, then it would come up to [P12.5 billion] per year,” for crude alone, Cheu said.

By contrast, the Philippines produces only 6,000 barrels of oil daily, according to data from the Energy Department. In 2012 the Philippines produced 1.64 million barrels of oil of which the Galoc oilfield accounted for 1.482 million barrels, which was 29-percent lower than the previous year.

The country’s biggest source of crude oil, the Galoc oil field, is expected to contribute P1.74 billion to the national coffers from 2012 to 2015, which is a far cry from Malaysia’s 5-percent yearly estimated royalty of about P12.5 billion from Sabah’s oil production.

With billions in existing and potential windfall from Sabah’s natural resources, it is apparently clear how much of a “national interest” Sabah is to any controlling entity. - source

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What’s inside Kiram’s lost letter to Aquino

What was in that letter so that Sultan Jamalul Kiram III could say that had the President paid attention to it, he and his followers would not have taken matters in their own hands?

It was lost not in translation but in the appreciation of its urgency and significance.

That is what happened to the letter sent to President Aquino in 2010 by Agbimuddin Kiram, crown prince of the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, expressing his clan’s stand on the Philippine claim to the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah and the peace process in Muslim Mindanao.

After congratulating and expressing his clan’s support for the new Aquino administration, Agbimuddin informed Aquino about the creation of the Interim Supreme Royal Ruling Council (ISRRC) under the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo as a result of the series of consultations in Simunul, Tawi-Tawi; KM-4 Indanan, Sulu; and Kawit, Zamboanga City, on June 20, 25 and 26, 2010.

There is probably another reason why the letter got lost in Malacañang.

The letter was dated June 28, 2010, two days before Aquino took his oath as President. Technically, then, he was not yet officially the sitting President.

The letter was coursed through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) but since Secretary Teresita Deles had not yet assumed office at the time, another officer there received the letter and it was this officer who decided it was “not urgent.”

Dismissed as such, the letter was relegated to the pile of papers deemed not needing presidential attention.

The Opapp officer who made the decision was considered an expert in Muslim affairs.

After the Sabah standoff began three weeks ago and the letter was mentioned in the early reports of the Inquirer, a source in Malacañang said the President inquired about it. Aquino was reportedly disappointed to learn that no one kept the letter or a copy of it.

The same source, who asked not to be identified, quoted the President as saying: “Next time, when a letter is addressed to me, give it to me so I can read it.”

Seeking guidance

Specifically, Agbimuddin in the letter asked for guidance from the new President on what course of action the ISRRC should take, especially involving the Sabah claim.

“With highest esteem, may we inform His Excellency that during the consultation process, we asked our supporters what action, under the guiding light of your administration, the ISRRC of the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo would take or adopt anent the Sabah issue, which became the national contract between the government of the Philippines and the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo pursuant to the filing of such claim in the United Nations against Great Britain and Malaysia in 1962,” Agbimuddin said.

Anticipating Aquino’s participation in international forums such as the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) leaders’ summit, Agbimuddin stated his clan’s position on the Sabah claim to guide the President in discussions on the issue in meetings with representatives of Malaysia.

International forums

Agbimuddin wanted Aquino to articulate two points for the clan: The special power of attorney given by the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo to the Philippine government was revoked in August 1989 for lack of political will to push forward the claim by previous administrations from the time of then President Diosdado Macapagal, and the ISRRC had been legally established instead, taking over all actions pertinent to the Sabah claim.

Agbimuddin was appointed chairman of the ISRRC by his elder brother, the sultan, in June 2010.

Ignored for five decades

Abraham Idjirani, secretary general and spokesman of the sultanate of Sulu, said the appointment of Agbimuddin as ISRRC chairman was the basis for the crown prince’s exercising “authority” over Sabah, thus the six-hour “journey back home” to Sabah on Feb. 11 (most reports date the Sabah trip to Feb. 9).

In his letter to Aquino, Agbimuddin expressed his clans’ exasperation at being ignored through five decades of the discussions of the Sabah claim.

Agbimuddin said the heirs of the sultanate suspected that vested interests in the previous administrations were behind the claim’s being denied the attention it deserved.

The letter ended with the clan’s expression of hope of seeing “a change in the treatment of the Sabah issue” under Aquino’s administration.

Agbimuddin also said any treatment of the Sabah claim must be “consistent with the laws of the Philippines” and in consideration of the sultanate’s “legal, historic rights, cultural traditions and heritage.”

First united decision

Jamalul himself wrote to the President in 2011 and in 2012. When the sultanate received no response, the Kiram brothers met in November last year and agreed to the issuance of a “royal decree” authorizing Agbimuddin’s journey home to Sabah.

Idjirani said it was the first united decision of the Kiram brothers.

“They may have argued many times on policies and actions but the sultan and his brothers were never at odds as to their stance that Sabah belongs to the sultanate of Sulu,” Idjirani said. - source

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