FREE AND INDEPENDENT SABAH
"Our dearly beloved good people of Sabah and descendants of great and
brave Tausug warriors living in Sabah and to the members of the Sabah
Pro-Independence Movement who made representations and met our Royal
Cabinet Ministers earlier on! Assalamu Alaikum!
This is a special message of greetings and best wishes to the good
people of Sabah and to our Beloved Tausug descendants who are sons and
daughters of valiant, loyal and courageous Tausug warriors known
throughout history as defenders of the Sultanate of Sulu & Sabah, the
“Unconquered Kingdom”, who never yielded and never surrendered to the
invasion and conquest of Spain.
Sabah and Palawan were gifts by the Sultan of Brunei to the Sultan of
Sulu in 1658 when the Sultan of Sulu gave military assistance to quell
the rebellion on the island of Borneo by sending Panglima Illijji as
commander of the Tausug expeditionary force numbering over 2,500
battle-tested troops against the Spaniards.
Panglima Illijji (the great ancestor of Datu Prof. Dr. Hadji Nur P.
Misuari) and other Tausug warriors from Tapul and Parang, Sulu
performed their duties brilliantly that made Sabah and Palawan annexed
to the Sulu Crown and properties of the Sultanate of Sulu to this day.
In 1878, the royal father of our grandfather, HM Sultan Jamalul Ahlam
Kiram, rented Sabah to a British company with the provisions that it
could not be transferred to any person, company or nation without the
consent of the Sultan of Sulu.
The British took over Malaya and Sabah and continued to pay the rent
for Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu. The British left Malaya and Sabah in
1962 but instead of returning the Sabah property to the Sultan of
Sulu, it was illegally transferred to Malaysia without the consent of
the Sultan of Sulu.
MALAYSIA ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED SABAH SINCE 1963 TO THIS DAY. It was said
that a referendum was held for the people of Sabah to join Malaysia
but this referendum was unfair and unlawful because Malaysia did not
inform and did not give any opportunity to the owners of Sabah namely
the Sultan of Sulu and the Sultanate of Sulu to present their side as
landowners of Sabah before and during the said referendum.
Therefore, this referendum, being unilateral and one-sided was
unlawful and null and void 'ab initio' and had no effect on the land
ownership of the Sultan of Sulu and the Sultanate of Sulu over Sabah.
Sabah is still the property of the Sultan and the Sultanate of Sulu to
this day.
We, His Majesty Sultan Muhammad Fuad Abdulla Kiram I, as The Sultan of
Sulu & The Sultan of Sabah, Head of the Sultanate and Head of Islam in
the Sultanate of Sulu & Sabah, along with our Royal Family and our
Royal Cabinet, support A FREE AND INDEPENDENT SABAH under a
Parliamentary Monarchy whereby Members of Parliament are elected by
the people of Sabah provided, howsoever, that a free and independent
Sabah will be under our reign and our successors according to law of
succession as the King of Sabah.
In this proposal, the King of Sabah will reign and the Sabah
Parliament will rule and administer services beneficial to all the
people of Sabah.
This proposal will finally resolve the Sabah matter because The Sultan
of Sulu & The Sultan of Sabah, as lawful owner, has agreed with this
compromise solution that will be a win-win position to everyone
concerned.
This also means that the resources of Sabah and its gross domestic
product, as well as the nearly 1 million barrels of oil pumped per day
in Sabah, amounting to USD30 Billion per year, will be utilized for
social and economic developments of the beloved people of Sabah. As
per energy report, Sabah contains over 70% of oil reserves of Malaysia
today but with this reality, Malaysia (a Muslim nation) dispossessed
their Muslim brothers and sisters of their Sabah property without just
compensation. This act of Malaysia is Un-Islamic and against the law
of Allah, and must be rejected by good peoples and the international
community of nations.
It is, however, necessary that Sabah assists in the much needed social
and economic developments of their underprivileged Muslim brothers and
sisters in the Sultanate of Sulu and of Mindanao.
We support this compromise solution together with our Royal Family,
our Royal Cabinet and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to
resolve the Sabah matter by peaceful means.
When the good people of Sabah ejected Malaysia out of Sabah, they will
be the masters of their own destiny and the masters of their resources
in Sabah worth over USD30 Billion per year, with said resources now
siphoned off to Kuala Lumpur with little amount left for social and
economic developments of the epople of Sabah.
We pray the good people of Sabah will act soon on this win-win
solution to resolve the Sabah matter by peaceful means. We support a
free and independent Sabah as proposed by the Sabah Pro-Independence
Movement.
