Philippine exhibit in Kuala Lumpur showcases beauty of Mindanao
By Tarra Quismundo
With the standoff in the disputed Sabah still unresolved, the country’s mission in Kuala Lumpur is hoping to put Mindanao in a positive light on the Malaysian stage.
With the standoff in the disputed Sabah still unresolved, the country’s mission in Kuala Lumpur is hoping to put Mindanao in a positive light on the Malaysian stage.
The government is skirting the Sabah conflict – a pestering issue between the Philippines and Malaysia – in next week’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ summit in Brunei, officials said on Wednesday.
More than 400 “volunteer fighters” of the so-called sultanate of Sulu have arrived in Lahad Datu, Sabah, to reinforce the sultanate’s “Royal Security Forces (RSF),” triggering clashes with Malaysian security forces, the sultanate’s spokesperson said on Tuesday.
At least 50 representatives of government agencies in the Zamboanga peninsula and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have drafted an action plan to address the heavy influx of Filipino returnees from Sabah, Malaysia.
Malaysian security forces on Monday stopped a boat carrying 32 armed Filipinos who were trying to join a two-month-old incursion into the disputed territory of Sabah, police said.
Should the ongoing conflict in Sabah be tackled by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission?
An estimated 100,000 Filipinos in Sabah are expected to flee to the Philippines by May, according to a government “worse case scenario” following an incursion by supporters of the sultan of Sulu in February and a subsequent crackdown by Malaysian forces in the area.
While the Philippines has not given up its claim to Sabah, the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has asked Filipino barter traders to comply with fresh Malaysian regulations “notably requiring Filipinos and other foreigners” to present passports or seaman’s books if they wish to do business in the disputed state and the neighboring territory of Labuan.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) assured the group of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, on Monday, that it would bring the Sabah issue, particularly the reports of human rights violations against Filipinos there, to the Vatican.
The titular head of the Sultanate of Sulu, who had ordered 200 of his followers to occupy a village in Sabah to assert their ancestral land claim to the resource-rich region, met with the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on Monday afternoon.
Filipino embassy officials were able to visit eight alleged followers of the Sultanate of Sulu currently detained in a prison in Sabah after they were charged with terrorism and rebellion in connection with the Feb. 9 incursion there that left over 80 people dead, mostly Filipinos.
Malaysian police claimed on Saturday it had “nearly decimated” armed supporters of the Sultanate of Sulu which recently attempted to reclaim its historical ownership of Sabah.
