Nickee Butlangan
THE BIG STORY
LOST REALM
How the hereditary rulers of the vanished Sultanate
of Sulu seek to reclaim their former greatness
FRANCESCA REGALADO Nikkei staff writer
LAHAD DATU, Malaysia Nothing about the
crossing was immediately unusual. For centuries,
people traveled the 200 kilometers of water between
here and Tawi-Tawi, the Philippines’ southernmost
province, to sell wares or purchase goods.
But in the dead of night 10 years ago, two
motorboats crossed over into neighboring Malaysia
and landed on Sabah, carrying around 200 elderly
men, a dozen World War II rifles and their leader, a
72-year-old prince.
The prince, Agbimuddin Kiram, wanted to
occupy the northern tip of Borneo on behalf of his
older brother Jamalul Kiram III, a claimant to the
former Sultanate of Sulu. His elderly band called
themselves the Royal Sultanate Force, a mere
shadow of an age when the Tausugs of Sulu were
feared warriors.
For hundreds of years, Sulu had commanded
Sulu province, southwest a swath of the South China Sea before falling to
Philippines, pictured in March. Spain in 1836. In contrast, Agbimuddin’s men were
Nikkei Asia - Special excerpt from Sept. 11-17, 2023 Print edition. Nikkei Inc. No reproduction without permission.
poorly provisioned when they landed in Tanduo
village on Feb. 11, 2013.
By the next day, a villager had tipped off the
authorities, and Malaysian police quickly cordoned
off the area and evacuated civilians.
Residents of Eastern Sabah were placed under
lockdown, even those in the city of Lahad Datu,
two hours west by car, as police attempted to
negotiate with the invaders.
Relatives say Agbimuddin’s last-ditch effort to
reunify the lost realm of his ancestors was driven
by his impending mortality.
“They just wanted to experience being in their
territory. Agbimuddin asked three times for
permission from my father to go to Sabah. Finally,
he went without permission,” his niece Jacel
Kiram, daughter of Jamalul III, told Nikkei Asia.
Jacel claims her father was surprised by
Agbimuddin’s actions, but nearly a month into the
standoff, Jamalul III had decided to stand by his
 THE BIG STORY

The Royal House of Kiram

Jamalul II’s heirs Named claimants

Sultan Jamalul Kiram II Sultan Mawallil Wasit

(Reign: 1894-1936) Brothers (Reign: 1936)

Last Sultan of Sulu recognized by Manila; his will is basis Died before being crowned; husband of Mora Napsa,
of Sabah claim; died childless; bequeathed estate, including one of Jamalul II’s nine heirs (4.16%)
North Borneo, to eight nieces, nephews, sister-in-law

Adopted daughters Children

Princess Tarhata Sakinurin Kiram Dayang Dayang Sultan Mohammed Datu Punjungan Kiram Sitti Rada Kiram Sitti Jahara Kiram Sitti Mariam Kiram
Kiram Cousins Niece of Jamalul II, Cousins Hadji Piandao Kiram Cousins Esmail Kiram
Reign: 1950-1974
Mawallil Wasit’s younger son; served as crown prince One of Jamalul II’s One of Jamalul II’s One of Jamalul II’s
Niece of Jamalul II; one of his nine Jamalul II’s favorite for brother Sultan Esmail during Mahakuttah’s minority; nine heirs (4.16%) nine heirs (4.16%) nine heirs (4.16%);
one of his nine heirs heirs (18.75%) niece; received largest One of Jamalul II’s nine one of Jamalul II’s nine heirs (4.16%) died childless
(18.75%); educated share of his will heirs; signed transfer of
in U.S.; died 1979 (37.5%); died childless sovereignty over Sabah
to Philippines (4.16%) Sons

Daughter Daughter Granddaughter Niece

Sons

Granddaughter
Nurhima Sultan Mahakuttah Kiram
Kiram Fornan (Reign: 1974-1986)
Esmail’s eldest son; pursued
Philippines’ claim to Sabah with
President Ferdinand Marcos
Datu Fuad Kiram
Mahakuttah’s younger
brother and
administrator of Jamalul
II’s will for Esmail’s line
Sultan Jamalul Kiram III Rajah Agbimuddin Kiram Sitti Ayesha Kiram Permaisuli
Kiram-Guerzon
Punjungan’s eldest son; Jamalul III’s younger brother and Received combined 8.32%
a claimant to the Sulu crown prince; led a private army of Jamalul II’s will from
throne; resided in Manila; to Lahad Datu, Sabah, in 2013; mother and grandmother
died from illness in 2013 died in Tawi-Tawi in 2015 Mora Napsa

Son Daughters Sons

Taj Mahal Kiram Sultan Muedzul Lail Tan Kiram Princess Jacel Half Sheramar Kiram Datu Ahmad Kiram Jenny
Tarsum Nuqui (Reign: 2012-present) Kiram sisters Sampang Sampang
Administrator of (Died May 2023),
Administrator for Reigning sultan on Jolo Island; Punjungan clan’s Jamlul II’s will for Datu Widz Raunda
Piandao and Tarhata’s Mahakuttah’s eldest son who spokesperson; Punjungan’s line Kiram Sampang
lines (56.25%) was eight years old on onetime Philippine Source photos: Nickee Butlangan, Reuters,
father’s death Senate candidate Each holding 4.16% Getty Images, EPA, Sultan Muedzul Kiram
Source: Nikkei Asia research

brother. Agbimuddin and his men would “fight
until the last man” to “reclaim and settle peacefully
in our homeland,” Jamalul III said in a 2013
statement delivered by Jacel.
By mid-March, through airstrikes and house-
to-house manhunts, Malaysia had recaptured
Tanduo and killed 56 of the raggedy band they
referred to as “terrorists” after ambushes and
shootouts by the invaders felled nine Malaysian
officers and six civilians.
Dozens of Filipinos were charged in
Malaysian courts, while the rest fled with their
leader, back to Tawi-Tawi, where Agbimuddin
died two years later.
The consequences, however, have since
reverberated further than Sabah’s shores. Najib
Razak, then prime minister of Malaysia, apparently
saw the failed invasion as a violation of a centuries-
old contract with the sultanate for the lease of
Sabah, signed by British explorers in 1878 and
inherited by Malaysia.
For years, eight of Agbimuddin’s relatives had
quietly received from Malaysia a yearly payment
of 5,300 ringgit (now $1,140) for the rights to Sabah.
It was a token sum for a land whose mineral
wealth would later turn out to be considerable
after oil was discovered in 1910.
Almost immediately after Agbimuddin’s
invasion, Najib ceased those payments.
The Kiram family -- the hereditary rulers of
the now-defunct sultanate -- has since taken
Agbimuddin Kiram’s route
Malaysia, a sovereign state, to courts across to Sabah in February 2013 PHILIPPINES
Europe for the unpaid lease, providing a unifying
cause to cousins long torn apart by questions as
fundamental as who the rightful sultan is. Sulu Sea
Through arbitration proceedings launched
in 2019, their commercial claim on Sabah has
Tawi-Tawi
ballooned to an astonishing $15 billion. The sum, MALAYSIA
awarded by a Spanish arbitrator in France in
2022, reflected the value of oil, gas and palm oil
that Malaysia extracts from Sabah, its second-
largest state. Celebes Sea
Facing one of the largest arbitral awards in
history, Malaysia has begun a lengthy appeals
The route is approximated
process in European courts. Meanwhile, lawyers

16 Nikkei Asia Sept. 11-17, 2023 Read more at asia.nikkei.com 17

 THE BIG STORY

We fear
“ for the family have launched enforcement claims
in jurisdictions where Malaysia holds assets,
including Luxembourg and France.
Brief history of Sabah’s sovereignty and
oil reserves
-- starting a succession feud that continues three
generations later.
One of the claimants to the throne is Sultan
1660
dying and The claim holds that Malaysia violated the During civil war in Brunei, Sultan of Brunei allegedly
Muedzul, who lives in a yellow bungalow on Jolo
contract for the lease of Sabah when it stopped Island with his wife and seven children.
leaving this paying the rent, and secondly, that the contract
gives North Borneo to Sultan of Sulu
Their community is gated but not grand,
situation for should have been renegotiated after oil and gas 1836 far removed from his charmed childhood
were discovered. Sulu surrenders to Spain; its territories become part as Sultan Esmail’s grandson, then as Sultan
our children. As colonial lines were redrawn, North Borneo
of the Philippines, a Spanish colony
Mahakuttah’s heir.
Let’s think became a British protectorate, then joined an 1878 There were mansions and royal audiences
of a solution independent Malaysia in 1963 as the state of Sabah. and private planes to Manila, where Esmail and

Nickee Butlangan
Sultan Jamalul Alam enters contract with two
Over the past five decades, Sabah has produced European merchants to allow exploration of North Mahakuttah would meet with Presidents Diosdado The Kiram family’s
now 1.92 billion barrels of oil, a fifth of all oil production
Borneo for $5,000 a year
Macapagal and Ferdinand Marcos Sr. to discuss the commercial
for Malaysia and its oil and gas company Petronas. Sabah claim. claim on Sabah

Muedzul Lail Tan Kiram

” The ripples of Agbimuddin’s failed invasion
highlight the unresolved legacy of colonialism in
1894
Jamalul Kiram II becomes Sultan of Sulu, the last to
be recognized by the Philippines
Now 57, Muedzul traces the evaporation of his
power and properties from Mahakuttah’s early
is equivalent
to nearly
The reigning sultan this corner of the South China Sea, where the death, when Muedzul was only 8 years old.
in Sulu
borders of modern states were carved across A beach on Jolo Island, Sulu province, 1898
Philippine revolution drives out Spain, which cedes
Muedzul’s cut of the annual rental payment 20%
preexisting nations, cultures and identities. southwest Philippines, in March. for Sabah -- which he received annually until the of Malaysia’s
territory to U.S.
The financial stakes are high, with the 2013 standoff -- was a meager 200 pesos ($3.63) budget this year
award of $15 billion equal to nearly a fifth children,” Muedzul Lail Tan Kiram, the reigning 1910 that grew to 1,200 pesos as older relatives died. His
Source: Nikkei Asia
of Malaysia’s budget this year. It is also an sultan in Sulu, told Nikkei of his family’s claim to Shell discovers oil reserves in Miri, North Borneo, uncle Fuad Kiram is named in the arbitration as research
capable of producing 83 barrels per day
unimaginable sum for the Kirams of Sulu, one Sabah. “Let’s think of a solution now.” their clan’s administrator.
of the Philippines’ poorest and least developed “My wife used [the rent payments] to buy
1936
provinces, scarred by decades of separatist FADED GLORY If the award is ever paid, the Sultan Jamalul Kiram II dies childless, leaving estate plates. We didn’t use it to buy food or anything
insurgency. Members of the family see the award windfall could transform the fortunes of the now- to sister-in-law and eight nieces and nephews consumable because it’s a symbol of the sultanate’s
-- or a settlement with Malaysia -- as a potential impoverished dynasty. At its height in 1836, Sulu ownership of North Borneo,” Muedzul said.
resource for the newly autonomous Muslim stretched from Palawan to Zamboanga, Jolo and 1962 The dividends were so negligible that some
U.N. sets up Cobbold Commission to vote on
region in Mindanao. Tawi-Tawi in the southern Philippines. Sabah and Sarawak joining Malaysia branches of the family, such as the wealthy Rasuls
“We fear dying and leaving this situation for our Sultan Jamalul II, the last Sulu monarch to be Sultan Esmail Kiram transfers sovereignty over of Tawi-Tawi, declined their annual payments
recognized by the Philippines and who died in North Borneo to Philippines
1936, stood at the head of a population estimated
to be 500,000. 1963
Offshore basins in Malaysia is formed, comprising Malaya, Sabah, Extent of the Sulu Sultanate
Today, the glory has faded. The sultanate’s in 1836
North Borneo PHILIPPINES Sarawak and Singapore
PHILIPPINES
ancestral house, Astana Darul Jambangan, sits
Claimed by:
on a hill in the center of Jolo, the main island of 1970s
The Sulu heirs Palawan
Malaysia Sulu province. Oil price shocks accelerate exploration,
development and production in Sabah
Brunei The island’s pink sand beaches and clear waters
Philippines are unspoiled by development and tourism, Mindanao
Sandakan 1990s
Indonesia basin perhaps because of its unfortunate history with
Sabah Deep-water natural gas fields are discovered Sultanate of Sulu
basin violent extremists. around Sabah
Now mostly defeated, the Abu Sayyaf group Zamboanga
MALAYSIA Source: Nikkei Asia research Sulu Sea
besieged the southern Philippines beginning in
BRUNEI 1989, using Jolo as a base to conduct kidnappings Jolo Basilan
and execute Filipino and foreign hostages.
What remains of the palace walls are two stone Four years later when Jamalul II died, an BRUNEI Sabah
Sarawak Tawi-Tawi
basin Tarakan basin pillars, so gnarled and weather-beaten that they obituary in Time magazine mentioned an annual MALAYSIA
Celebes Sea
blend into the surrounding trees. The three-story rent of $5,000 paid by the British North Borneo
INDONESIA wooden structure was said to be the largest royal Company, then a princely sum. Childless, he left
The Malaysian portion of Sabah basin contains 33 oil fields, as well as 995 million barrels of oil and house in the Philippines but was destroyed by a his estate to eight nieces and nephews as well as
gas reserves
Source: Brattle report on restitution value submitted to the Stampa arbitration typhoon in 1932. his sister-in-law but did not appoint a successor Source: Treaty between Sultan Jamalul Kiram I and Spain, 1836

Nikkei Asia - Special excerpt from Sept. 11-17, 2023 Print edition. Nikkei Inc. No reproduction without permission.
 THE BIG STORY
before 2013. Their illustrious clan includes
Santanina Rasul, a Philippine senator from 1987
to 1995, and her husband, Abraham Rasul, a
former ambassador.
“It was 70,000 pesos a year,” Salma Pir Rasul,
daughter of the late Santanina and Abraham, said
about the lease payment. “It followed literally the
terms of the lease, which was centuries old. They
“
[The rent
didn’t even raise it to the present value.”
Court documents describe the claimants “in a
position of hardship” compared to the billions of
payments] dollars in hydrocarbon and palm oil revenue that
followed Malaysia reaps from Sabah each year.
Most of the family live as ordinary middle-class
literally the citizens, including the eight named claimants who
terms of descend from Jamalul II’s nine original heirs.
the lease, For years, the family complained of the
missing payments from Malaysia to anyone who
which was would listen.
centuries Finally, their tale reached the right ears: an oil
and gas executive who had served as an expert
old. They witness in a case litigated by the British barrister
didn’t even and international arbitration specialist Paul Cohen.
The executive connected the family to Cohen,
raise it to who describes himself as a “quasi academic”
the present before a legal career counseling governments and
value private parties in arbitrations involving energy,
bribery, fraud and intellectual property.
”
Salma Pir Rasul
An academic background in history, he says,
differentiated his approach from previous
A member of the Rasuls unsuccessful attempts to bring the Kirams’ claim
of Tawi-Tawi, a branch of to court. The Sabah claim was an intriguing
the Kiram family historical quandary, one that piqued his interest
until he could find a legal angle, he said.
“Nothing about this case is normal,” Cohen told
Nikkei from London.
But, he added, “this is a modern commercial
arbitration. You just have to get over the initial
bizarreness.”
On and off for a year, Cohen pored over
family documents and archives in London
before he found a cold legal basis for a
commercial suit: Malaysia’s nonpayment
had breached the British North Borneo
Company’s contract with Jamalul II,
which merited renegotiating after the
discovery of oil and gas in Sabah.
“What clinched it for me was the
clients told me they received checks
from the Malaysian government,”
said Cohen. Checks from 2011 signed
by the Malaysian ambassador in Manila were
submitted as evidence to the arbitrator when
Malaysia denied knowledge of the heirs’ identities.
Cohen traveled to the Philippines in 2015 for his
first meeting with the eight administrators, where
it was immediately clear that the family did not
have the means to pursue the claim. The London-
based litigation funder Therium has bankrolled
the Kirams’ case, the Financial Times has reported.
Cohen’s team declined to comment on their
financial backers.
Third-party financing has become increasingly
common in such arbitration proceedings, said
Harald Sippel, a Kuala Lumpur-based lawyer
who has worked on over 80 arbitrations, adding
that it allows claimants to pursue cases they
would not otherwise be able to. “Funders want
appropriate returns, so they would never finance
a claim that doesn’t have a very good chance of
success,” he said.
REDRESSING WRONGS? If the heirs ever see a
payday from Malaysia, financial backers would get
a substantial cut greater than the tens of millions of
pounds spent so far. Therium did not respond to
Nikkei Asia’s request for comment.
Initially skeptical of another failed approach, the
administrators were “emotional” upon learning that
Cohen could take their claim to European courts.
The elders delivered the news to the family
soon afterward. “Let’s focus on winning the case.
If we win, then we can continue the argument
over who the rightful sultan is,” they told the
contending branches.
Lawyers for the Sulu heirs initially brought
the claim to a Spanish court because the contract
was signed on Jolo Island, when the Philippines
was under Spanish rule. The contract named the
British consul general in Sabah as the arbiter, but
the present-day British government declined to
adjudicate. A Spanish court accepted the claim and
appointed Gonzalo Stampa as arbiter.
With Malaysia pressing Spain to dismiss the
claim, however, the claimants applied to move
the venue to France, where the final award was
ultimately issued.
The first summons, in 2019, from Stampa came
as a shock to Tommy Thomas, whose tenure
as Malaysian attorney general was already off
to a rough start. His appointment in 2018 by
then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed was
Oil and gas production In February 2022, Stampa ruled in the Kirams’
in Malaysia’s Sabah basin favor with the award of $14.9 billion, dwarfed
Revenue only by the $50 billion awarded to former
Oil and gas production for Malaysia*
(In billions of barrels)
shareholders of Yukos, the oil and gas company
(Estimates, in
Oil Gas billions of dollars) seized by Russian authorities during 2004 to 2007.
That award was overturned in 2021 by the Dutch
1.32
1965-2012 48.04 supreme court.
0.20
Kuala Lumpur’s political class views the Sulu
2013-20† 0.60
0.16
1.15
25.75 heirs’ lawyers in London with suspicion for
litigating against Malaysia in European courts,
2020-44 57.88 seeing it as a case of former colonial powers eager
1.37
to redress imperialist wrongs -- at their country’s
Total
Oil: 3.07
Gas: 1.73
131.67 expense. Over the past five
“Suing a country is a big-league game,” Oh decades, Sabah
Figures for 2023-44 are forecasts *From oil and gas production, said. “Sovereign immunity is held to be sacrosanct. has accounted for
includes income from tax revenue, royalties, export duties
Once invoked, all states defer to that. A private
one-fifth
†
Stampa arbitration began February 2020
Source: The Brattle Group
party wouldn’t be able to come into court at all.”
Malaysia argues that the contract between the of Malaysia’s total
sultan and the British company was not a lease oil production
opposed by the Malay political establishment who but a cession of rights to Sabah. The sultan and
Source: Nikkei Asia
disapproved of Thomas, an Indian Christian from British company’s authority was subsumed by
Kuala Lumpur. the Philippines and Malaysia when Sulu became
research
“I never expected to deal with any Filipino or part of the former and Sabah of the latter. Any
other interest in, or claim to, Sabah or its resources arbitration, therefore, should be between the
during my time in office. Hence the total surprise governments in Manila and Kuala Lumpur, and
when I was briefed sometime in 2019 of a separate any remaining rights of the family were voided
and independent claim by private individuals, all when Agbimuddin Kiram invaded Lahad Datu.
of whom claimed to be descendants of the Sultan But the case was brought as a commercial
of Sulu, for annual compensation,” Thomas wrote
in his 2021 memoir.
claim for an unpaid lease by Cohen, similar to
companies bringing claims against governments
Sultan Muedzul Kiram,
second from right, with
He recalled that 1963 was the first time he had that nationalize private assets. his council in Jolo,
heard of the Sulu claim to Sabah, as the Philippines This March, bailiffs in France tried to enforce Philippines, in March.
had opposed the inclusion of North Borneo in an
independent Malaysia.
“Malaysian officialdom and common folk
thought of it as a historical quirk that was settled
matter from the formation of Malaysia,” said
Oh Ei Sun, an international legal scholar and a
former political secretary to Prime Minister Najib,
Mahathir’s predecessor.
Thomas was advised that it would be “perilous”
to ignore the summons because Malaysia
had signed an international treaty to enforce
commercial arbitration awards. If arbitrators
awarded damages to the claimants, Malaysian
assets in any member country could be seized.
Malaysia sent representatives to arbitration
Nickee Butlangan
proceedings in Spain for three weeks in 2019,
then ceased participating entirely. Spanish
arbitrator Stampa continued adjudicating despite
Malaysia’s absence.
Nikkei Asia - Special excerpt from Sept. 11-17, 2023 Print edition. Nikkei Inc. No reproduction without permission.
 THE BIG STORY
the award by attempting to seize three properties
belonging to the Malaysian government.
However, Malaysia inched ahead in June when
appeals courts in Paris and the Hague rejected
the authority of arbitrator Stampa and denied
the award’s enforcement in France and the
Netherlands, where Petronas holds some
overseas assets.
Malaysian Law Minister Azalina Othman
Said hailed the ruling as “a decisive victory in
Malaysia’s ongoing pursuit of legal remedies,
which Malaysia is confident will result in
comprehensive defeat for the claimants and
their funders.”
But the case is not over. The Paris appeals
court ruling appeared favorable to Malaysia but
maintained that the contract was a lease that had
an arbitration clause, keeping legal avenues open
for the heirs. “The claimants will carefully review
the decision and are considering their options
before the French Supreme Court,” lawyers for the
Sulu heirs said in a statement.
Experts say the claim is unlikely to go away
soon. “Given the large amounts at stake, I would
assume that the claimants will continue to attempt
enforcement proceedings for years to come,” said
The heirs told Nikkei Sippel, the Kuala Lumpur lawyer. “They have
Asia they would use spent millions on legal fees and can hardly afford
the $15 billion award to
develop Sulu, one
walking away from this now. Malaysia would then
of the Philippines’ have to oppose these enforcement proceedings as
poorest provinces. they occur,” he said.
Photos by Nickee Butlangan
Manila, for its part, has officially stayed out
of the commercial arbitration despite calls from
politicians to press the sovereign claim. Philippine
public opinion occasionally swings around
to support the claim, despite a complicated
history between the sultan’s heirs and Manila.
The Philippines, a republic, is prohibited from
recognizing any monarchical lines.
Politically charged coverage of the arbitration
by the Malaysian and Filipino press has fanned
nationalist flames. Coverage escalated in recent
months as Law Minister Azalina waged a public
relations campaign against the arbitration on
behalf of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar
Ibrahim’s new government.
Some Malaysian officials would rather not settle
the arbitration, claiming it would not end the Sulu
issue given the Kiram family’s own disagreements
about the rightful sultan.
Jacel Kiram, daughter of the late Jamalul III,
hoped Malaysia would agree to share Sabah
and help develop Sulu as neighbors and fellow
Muslims.
“We shouldn’t be fighting,” she told Nikkei.
“There’s a way to let both parties shout that
they won’t give up sovereignty while reaching a
mutually beneficial agreement.”
FAMILY TIES Princess Jacel lives in Davao with
her husband, a high-ranking army intelligence
officer. Lawyers for her relatives say Jacel does
not speak for them, but the 40-year-old mother
of five has acted as her clan’s self-proclaimed
spokesperson since her uncle’s failed invasion of
Sabah thrust her into the spotlight.
Jacel Kiram speaks to Nikkei Asia
in Davao, Philippines.
“My world shrank when Lahad Datu
happened,” Jacel said. “I didn’t want this.”
Wearing a black hijab and light-colored shirt and
trousers, Jacel spoke to Nikkei in the Davao high-
rise where she runs the Philippines’ governing
body for silat, a Malay martial art, as part of her
efforts to preserve Sulu and Tausug culture.
“When you think about Sulu, you think about
Abu Sayyaf and beheadings. You don’t think about
the contributions to Philippine history,” she said.
Despite her title and royal lineage, Jacel is the
product of a middle-class upbringing in Manila,
where her father, Jamalul III, tried his hand at
business. “He promised himself he would work it
out for the people of Sulu, then return home once
he had become rich,” she said.
Styling himself sultan, Jamalul was courted by
politicians in Manila seeking to leverage his name
to win votes in Mindanao. Like her father, Jacel
in 2016 ran unsuccessfully for the Senate with the
party of then-Vice President Jejomar Binay. She had
slim chances of winning a national seat, but Binay
said he wanted her on his slate to raise awareness
of the Philippines’ claim to Sabah.
Because they lived in Manila, Jacel’s branch
had closer ties to the national government than
others with competing claims to the sultanate.
Her line maintains that the title passes to the
oldest surviving male in the family, not the
firstborn son -- a key point of contention among
the family branches.
“If a Sultan is survived by a brother and a son, it
goes first to the brother before the son,” Jacel said,
defending the claim of her uncle Phugdalun.
Muedzul, whose claim depends on the primacy
of sons over brothers, disputes this.
“I can’t blame her because that’s what she was
raised to believe. Their grandfather Punjungan
planted the idea,” Muedzul said of Jacel’s claim.
Muedzul’s eldest son and crown prince is 22, old
enough to succeed him when the time comes.
Through their representatives and in interviews
with Nikkei Asia, members of the family said they
plan to use the award to develop Sulu, improve
roads, build schools and hospitals, and provide
scholarships. Malaysia could even recast itself as
an investor in Mindanao, they said.
Nikkei Asia - Special excerpt from Sept. 11-17, 2023 Print edition. Nikkei Inc. No reproduction without permission.
Malaysia would want the Philippine
government involved to guarantee a final
settlement. “If it’s a settlement, it must be a one-
and-done settlement,” Oh said. “No more claims,
no more annual payments.”
But, he added: “The Philippine government is
not eager to settle this. No country would want to
relinquish their claim to such a big piece of land.”
Seeing Sabah as part of its territory, the
Philippines has no permanent diplomatic presence
in the state, leaving hundreds of thousands of
migrant Filipinos without representation.
Ingal, a Jolo native in his 60s, came to Lahad
Datu in 1984. Without Malaysian birth certificates
or identification cards, none of his 10 children were
educated. He works as a fishmonger in the town
market with his second son and rarely takes the
45-minute boat trip to visit Jolo.
“Over there, there’s too much police. Here, it’s
peaceful,” Ingal told Nikkei.
The only time Ingal remembers strife in Lahad
Datu was when Agbimuddin’s troops landed
“
We shouldn’t
in 2013. Malaysian officials buried the felled be fighting.
invaders according to Muslim rites but avoided
laying them to rest in one place lest it became a
There’s a
monument for sympathizers. Their graves are way to let
scattered across Sabah.
“We only realized Agbimuddin had escaped
both parties
because he was not among the arrested and his shout
body was not among the corpses,” said Hamzah ... while
Taib, former police commissioner of Sabah.
Agbimuddin died in Tawi-Tawi less than two reaching a
years after the Lahad Datu invasion, the only time mutually
that his family confirmed he had made it back to
the Philippines. Ill with diabetes, he had asked
beneficial
Hamzah’s negotiators for food and medicine. agreement
“I pitied him. He didn’t look like a rajah,”
Hamzah told Nikkei.
The standoff was merely a blip in normal
”
Princess Jacel Kiram
relations between Malaysia and the Philippines. Daughter of late Sultan
This March, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Jamalul III
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. agreed to pursue
“in-depth talks” between their foreign ministers to
resolve the Sabah claim.
The family’s elders are less optimistic.
“Not in our lifetime,” Rasul said. “There are a lot
of spurious claimants coming out. It’s going to be
long and protracted.”
Additional reporting by Nickee Butlangan,
Hakimie Amrie and Rhyannon Bartlett-Imadegawa.