14 Killed in Sulu Rebel Shootout

Children in the Sulu Sea

The road blocks in and out of Ranau, mid February, first alerted me to the story that a hundred Filipinos who were the loyal followers of the Sultanate of Sulu, had arrived in Lahad Datu and stated their claim to the ownership of Sabah. We all thought it was amusing and many of us couldn't believe that a hundred men, despite being loyal and brave, thought that they could take on the whole of Malaysia. The road blocks continued and rumours abounded as to how many "terrorists or pirates" were trying to take over Sabah. Many of the pirates (sounds more romantic I think!) had been joined by the hawkers who sell things by the roadsides who often are illegally living here. However, it was taken rather light heartedly, among the public although I'm sure negotiations between the Malaysian and the Philippine governments were on a more serious note. So have they a good case to take over Sabah?

The sea gypsies on Mabul Island travelling between the Sula Islands

 Well, a long time ago there were two very powerful Sultanates who ruled the coasts of Sabah and Sarawak. One was the Sultanate of Brunei and the other was the Sultanate of Sulu. The Sultanate of Sulu controlled the seas and the many islands, known as the Sulu Archipelego , on the east coast of Sabah and became rich by trading and "acquiring" the cargo of passing boats. There were many indigenous tribes who lived in Sabah and Sarawak who did not share the same culture or ethnicity but as most of these people lived in the interior, the Sultanates were able to rule without anyone objecting. Many of the Sulu sea people lived along the coast and the islands and they are known as the Bajau people with their own language and culture. There were sometimes some uprisings and the Sultanate of Brunei would need an ally and vice versa. This was how the Sultanate of Sulu acquired most of Sabah and that is how the Sultanate of Brunei lost most of Sarawak to an Englishman called James Brook ( later self appointed The White Rajah). The orang putih's ( the white people) at this time, were very keen to sail the seas without being robbed so that they could steal themselves from other countries in the East and get back to their own countries to sell for vast profits. There were the Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Americans and the British all vying against each other trying to make the safest and quickest routes back to Europe and America which meant making deals and taking over land that wasn't theirs to take. Hence the British North Borneo Company  was created and on 22 January  1878 , William Cowie, negotiated and obtained a lease in perpetuity of the lands of Sabah from the Sultanate of Sulu. Here lies the root of the problem facing Sabah now.
  Since then Sabah has been under the hands of the British, the Japanese and then finally gained their independence in 1963 by joining the Federation of Malaysia. The islands of Sulu, a few still in Sabah, have been under Spanish, American, Japanese and now the Philippines, although a treaty was signed this year to give Mindanao, predominantly Muslim, their own autonomy to rule. The Malaysian Federation still continue to pay a nominal annual rent to the Sultanate of Sulu for Sabah. The Sultanate of Sulu, no longer lives in a palace and it must be upsetting to see how wealthy the Sultanate of Brunei has become by holding on to his small but very oil rich country. Sabah too has much oil and there are new oil fields but the Sultanate of Sulu can't get his hands on them. 

   So I imagine it was this envy, rage, despair, impotence, that finally drove the Sultanate's brother to launch this brave but rather hopeless attack on Malaysia. We humans seem to be obsessed with taking land from others and will continue to do so for ever more I expect. However time has moved on and there is very little support in Sabah for the Sultanate of Sulu and sadly there are now 14 people dead and several seriously injured because of it. The stories are not clear as to who fired the first shot but the Sabahan police were closing in around the fishing village of Tandua, where they still are and they defended themselves losing 12 men and killing two policemen. They have lost any support they might have had and the Malaysian and the Philippine governments are negotiating to end it all as quickly as possible. On a more personal note, Jusita , my zumba teacher, has been sent there in her professional role as a policewoman and the husband of one of my teachers, so it is always more real when you know someone involved. Ranau is a long way from the coast so nowhere near the action, thankfully. The election date has been at last called for the last week in March and so I hope that this episode is not an indication of unrest to come. We shall see......

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21628758  for more info. if you're interested.

Update: Last night there was an attack in Semporna and five policemen were killed. The details seem to be unclear at the moment.