The Prime Minister of Malaysia rebuked the Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s plans on Sabah disputes that may reignite the dispute in the land originally owned by the Sultanate of Sulu. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak urges Manila to instead focus on resolving its own decades-old insurgency in Mindanao than focusing on Sabah issue.
The outgoing Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte made international headlines last week when he appeared to recognize the claim of the Sultanate of Sulu which had ruled Sabah before the British had transferred it to the Federation of Malaysia in 1963 but based on documents by the Sulu Sultans the Malaysian government still paid for the lease of Sabah until today.
The Philippines and Malaysian government made some misunderstandings during the year 2013 when over 200 descendants of the sultanate attempted to assert the Philippine claim to Sabah, leaving dozens of Sultanate supporters, civilians and Malaysian security forces dead in what is termed as the Lahad Datu incident.
The latest statement of Mayor Rody Duterte caught the attentions of the Malaysian government as Malaysia’s foreign ministry reiterated the country’s position that it did not recognize any claims by any party on Sabah, while Sabah’s chief minister Musa Aman dismissed the claim as “irrelevant.”
During Monday’s keynote address of the Malaysian Prime Minister to open the Asia-Pacific Roundtable in Kuala Lumpur-Prime Minister Najib took aim at Duterte’s remarks on Sabah, urging him to instead use his time more productively to help resolve one of Asia’s longest running insurgencies in the southern Philippines.
Prime Minister Najib also noted Malaysia’s role in precipitating negotiations to resolve the insurgency particularly the historic peace deal reached between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in March 2014 would be a welcome boost not only for Manila but for Malaysia-Philippine relations as a whole.
