President Benigno Aquino III. AP
MANILA, Philippines — The new sultan of Sulu and North Borneo, Esmail Kiram II, said over the weekend he would pick up from where his older and recently departed brother left off and pursue the kingdom’s proprietary rights over Sabah.
“I won’t stop as long as I am alive,” Kiram told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone.
This time, Kiram said, he hoped the government would back the sultanate’s cause.
“It is the duty of the incumbent President to help his people protect their property,” Kiram said.
He said the sultanate planned to write President Benigno Aquino III anew about the kingdom’s claim to Sabah.
Kiram’s older brother, Sultan Jamalul III, died on Oct. 20 after a lingering illness.
The sultanate commemorated the seventh day of Jamalul’s passing on Saturday in Jolo, Sulu.
The ownership of Sabah has been a long-standing thorny issue between the Philippines and Malaysia. It was pursued by the Marcos government but succeeding administrations after 1986 had put it on the backburner.
Malaysia is currently brokering peace talks between the Philippine government and Muslim secessionist rebels in Mindanao.
The sultanate, however, pressed its claim earlier this year. Forces led by Crown Prince Agbimuddin Kiram, landed outside the town of Lahad Datu, which resulted in bloody clashes with the Malaysian military.
Agbimuddin’s whereabouts remain unclear. The sultanate claims he is still in Sabah.
Esmail is seen to be more accessible by the government than his departed brother, who had an exchange of words with Malacañang at the height of the standoff.
Esmail had met with Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and the military leadership and proposed that he sail to Lahad Datu to speak to Agbimuddin, but Jamalul rejected the plan.
Esmail told the Philippine Daily Inquirer he would form a Council of Datus that would discuss how the sultanate would pursue its claim to Sabah.
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