Philippine Muslims who invaded Malaysia’s eastern state of Sabah last month suffered no casualties from an aerial and ground assault and are receiving help from local Filipinos, the clan leader’s wife said today.
Malaysian forces continued searching for followers of Jamalul Kiram, who asserts he’s the Sulu sultan, after launching the attack yesterday to end a four-week incursion that has killed more than 30 people. Kiram’s 214 supporters in Sabah survived the assault and are receiving support from Filipinos who live in the state, according to his wife, Fatima Kiram.
“Filipino civilians in Sabah have been helping the group of Agbimuddin Kiram in the battle,” Fatima Kiram said by phone, referring to Jamalul’s brother, who is leading the sultan’s group on the ground. “Otherwise his group can’t fight a battalion of Malaysian forces.”
The battle to reclaim territory on Borneo Island that the sultanate lost more than a century ago erupted weeks before elections in both countries. It also comes as Philippine President Benigno Aquino aims to conclude a peace deal with a Muslim separatist group that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak helped to broker.
Jamalul Kiram, who has a home in Manila and is receiving dialysis treatment for kidney failure, called today for direct talks with Aquino to end the incursion. His brother Agbimuddin Kiram is “ready to die,” Jamalul Kiram told DzMM radio today from Manila. “I won’t ask him to come home.”
‘Wasted Opportunity’
Aquino, in a visit to nearby Mindanao island today, said the incident was starting to hurt relations with Malaysia. The Kirams had “dragged” the nation into the dispute, he said.
“Our relationship was getting better and better and then this came along,” Aquino said, referring to Malaysia. “It could be a wasted opportunity.”
Najib said yesterday’s attacks came after negotiations with the Kirams failed. Three F-18 and five Hawk fighter aircraft were used in the attack, state-run Bernama reported.
About 800,000 Filipinos live in Sabah, Malaysia’s second- biggest state by land area that has about 3.1 million people, according to Malaysia government statistics. In Tawau district, where the fighting is centered, about half of the population is considered “non-Malaysian citizens,” the data show.
Kiram’s group is starting to blend in with local Sabahans, Malaysia’s TV3 news channel reported, citing police. Security forces detained four people with Malaysian passports in Semporna today suspected of helping Kiram’s group, it said.
Search Expanded
Malaysian police officers and soldiers expanded their search to other parts of Sabah’s eastern coastline, police inspector-general Ismail Omar said in a televised briefing today. Security forces shot dead one insurgent in an exchange of fire, he said, adding that no Malaysian police or soldiers were killed in yesterday’s operation.
Eight Malaysian police officers and 24 Kiram loyalists have been killed in shootouts since March 1. Malaysia Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said after meeting Philippine counterpart Albert del Rosario that his government considers Kiram’s group “terrorists.” Del Rosario disagreed with the label, while acknowledging that “acts of terrorism” may have taken place.
The two countries will form a naval blockade to prevent more Filipinos heading to Sabah to reinforce the insurgents, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said in an e-mailed statement. An exit channel should be created for women and children caught in the fighting, it said.
Peace Quest
“We’ll continue to explore avenues that will possibly lead to a peaceful resolution despite what has happened,” Abigail Valte, a spokeswoman for Aquino, told reporters in Manila today.
Developments in Sabah aren’t significant enough to affect the supply-demand balance in the palm oil industry, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Bernard Dompok said at a conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Indonesia evacuated more than 600 workers from palm-oil plantations in Sabah, the Jakarta Post reported today.
Malaysia’s benchmark stock index, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBMKLCI) Index, rose 0.4 percent as of 2:30 p.m., poised for its highest close since Jan. 18.
The Philippines will hold elections for its 285-member House of Representatives and half of its 24 Senate seats on May 13. Najib must dissolve parliament by April 28 and hold elections within 60 days as his ruling coalition seeks to maintain a 55-year grip on power.
The Sulu Sultanate, which dates back to the 14th century, says it leased Sabah to the British North Borneo Company in 1878, an agreement that Malaysia views as a secession of the region. Sabah fell under British control after World War II and joined Malaysia in 1963, shortly after the sultanate ceded sovereignty to the Philippines.
Peace Deal
The incident comes several months after Najib’s government helped Aquino reach a peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim separatist group in the southern Philippines. The Moro National Liberation Front, a splinter rebel group, called the accord -- which will expand the country’s autonomous Muslim region -- a conspiracy between Aquino and Najib for Malaysia to retain sovereignty of Sabah.
“Any agreement will be problematic and will be questioned” because Sabah wasn’t included in the self-governing region, said Rommel Banlaoi, executive director of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research.
Aquino risks putting the country in “total chaos” if he orders the arrest of Jamalul Kiram, said Nur Misuari, chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front.
“It’s unbecoming for a head of state to be siding with the enemy of his people,” Misuari said yesterday. “What kind of leader are you if you abandon your own people for the sake of his friendship with colonial troublemaker Malaysia?”
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