Sulu’s ‘crown prince’ to drop claims over Sabah

KOTA KINABALU,
Sept 29, 2015


A Sulu ”crown prince” Datu Mohd Kudhar SJ Kiram II is defying the recently departed Sultan Esmail Kiram II’s instructions, claiming that he had issued a directive to drop the Sultanate’s claims on Sabah.

Disclosing that he would be going back to the Philippines soon to inform the government of this decision, Datu Mohd Kudhar said they would instead focus on fighting for the independence of Sulu from the Philippines.

“I promise that there’ll will be no more intrusions in the future. We will no longer be issuing claims over Sabah as we already have a lot in our hands in fighting for the independence of Sulu from the Philippines.

“To add on ‘claiming Sabah’ on to our mission will be an unnecessary additional problem when we should instead be working on our independence,” the 69-year-old was reported as saying by The Borneo Post.

He also claims to be cousins with the recently departed Sultan Esmail Kiram II, who led an army of 200 followers to invade Sabah’s coastal village of Lahad Datu in February 2013.

A sultanate spokesman Abraham Idjirani told the Philippine media that Sultan Esmail Kiram II, who died at age 76 of kidney failure on Sept 19 at a hospital in southern Zamboanga city, left an order for his followers to pursue a claim to Sabah state in neighbouring Malaysia.

“One of his (Esmail) instructions was the pursuit of the Sabah claim through peaceful means for the welfare of the Filipino people,” Idjirani told the Associated Press.

His cousin, Kudhar, however, described the intrusion as a “heinous crime” and apologised to Sabahans for the confusion and chaos caused by the many individuals who claimed to be the Sultan of Sulu, defiling his grandfather’s name, one of which had led to a security crisis in the state.

The prince said that he is the son of Sultan Julaspi Kiram II, one of Jamalul Kiram’s children, adding that his relatives — the late Jamalul Kiram III and Esmail Kiram II — had nothing to do with the Kiram, because as he puts it: “No Kiram will ever do what they did.”

Vowing also to not interfere with the ongoing persecution of militants in the country, as “they have committed a serious crime against the King,” and should be dealt with by the laws of the country, he stressed that many innocent lives were lost as a result of their actions.

Esmail’s son, Amirbahar Hushin Kiram, in his 40s, was among those arrested and detained at the state prison in Kepayan and has been on trial since January last year for waging war against the King and being member of a terrorist group.

“We want to have harmonious and peaceful relations with our neighbouring country and states. That is why we vow that there will be no more intrusions,” Kudhar explained, adding that upon gaining their independence, he would be calling back the Suluks in Malaysia, of which he said numbered over a million in Sabah and about 300,000 in the Peninsular Malaysia, to go back to their country.

Now based in Manila, Kudhar also claimed that his father was the one who was in contact with the late Tun Mustapha Harun, Sabah’s first Head of State, and was even one of those who gave the blessings for the formation of Malaysia.

“My father didn’t want North Borneo to fall into the hands of the Christians, hence, rejecting the Philippine government. He agreed to Sabah jointly forming Malaysia because Malaysia is an Islamic country and was invited by the late Tungku Abdul Rahman to Jesselton in 1963.”

Claiming to be the chief of Muslims in all of Philippines, he also ordered his countrymen, the Suluks, residing in Malaysia to continue supporting the Barisan Nasional, particularly the Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Sabah.


Sumber - The Rakyat Post