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Issued by: BORNEO THIRD FORCE, Email: borneothirdforce@gmail.com
SUBJECT: The Legal and Moral Bankruptcy of the Sabah Claim and the Abandonment of 880,000 Filipinos
KOTA KINABALU: To the Secretary and Officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs:
The recent reaffirmation of the Philippine claim over Sabah, couched in the language of the Philippine Maritime Zones Act of 2024, is a diplomatic hallucination that collapses under the weight of its own historical and legal contradictions. It is time to end this political ghost story and face the global and humanitarian reality.
I. The Failure of Definition and the ICJ Rejection
If this claim were anything more than a distraction, it would not have been dismantled by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The 2001 Sipadan-Ligitan proceedings served as a public autopsy of the DFA’s incompetence. When the world’s highest court asked you to define the “part” of North Borneo you claimed, your representatives stood silent, unable to provide “sufficient clarity” or the mandatory evidence to justify intervention. The resulting 14-to-1 ICJ rejection was the international community’s verdict: the Philippine claim is a “non-interest.”
II. The Extinguished Legal Path
Your reliance on the 1878 Agreement is a masterclass in selective translation. You cling to the word pajak (lease) while ignoring the term “forever and in perpetuity.” The 1939 Macaskie Judgment long ago confirmed that the Sultan was stripped of political authority and payments were merely personal. This was further solidified by Judge Datuk Martin Idang at the Kota Kinabalu High Court, who ruled that Malaysia is the only “natural and proper forum,” effectively extinguishing foreign arbitration. The 2024 annulment of the $15 billion award by the Paris Court of Appeal—and the criminal conviction of arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa—proves this was a legally bankrupt “sham.”
III. The Humanitarian Betrayal
Most damning is your systemic failure to care for your own people. While playing geopolitical games, you have abandoned nearly 880,000 Filipinos in Sabah to a state of statelessness. Since the 1970s, you have refused to provide them with the basic documented identity of their homeland. Current repatriation exercises expose a deliberate “delay game” by the Philippine Embassy in issuing Temporary Travel Documents (TTDs), leaving your own citizens—including children—languishing in detention depots.
IV. Conclusion: A Violation of Self-Determination
By ignoring the 1963 Manila Accord, your own 1987 Constitution, and the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, you are fighting a losing battle against the self-determination of the Sabahan people.
You cannot claim the land while abandoning your people. Stop peddling 19th-century mistranslations and start fulfilling your duty to your documented—and undocumented—citizens.
The claim is dead. The responsibility remains.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Jesselton Times.
