CALL FOR SEPARATE IDENTITY FOR FILIPINOS RETURNING FROM SABAH?

MANILA, Philippines -  The Filipinos returning from Sabah, due to Filipino-Muslims who invaded it last February, should be called Filipinos displaced from Sabah, a radio report said.

The description was arrived at during a meeting of government officials who are handling the growing number of Filipino-Muslims who have been returning to their homes in the southern Philippines, the same radio report said.

It was not clarified if this description was made in support of the Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III who allowed his brother Rajah Mudda Agbimuddin and his 200 followers to occupy Tanduao Village, Lahad Datu on February 9.

Sultan Jamalul Kiram III said he is pushing for his family’s claim over Sabah, adding it has a legal basis and a history as far as 1650. 

• He referred to the time when the Sultan of Brunei gave Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu who helped quell a rebellion there.
• Clashes between Malaysian security forces and Kiram’s group which began on March 2, have killed 70 Filipino-Muslims, the majority of them civilians; some ten Malaysian policemen were killed; and 100 people arrested, reports said, adding that eight Filipino-Muslims were charged for terrorism, which is punishable by death.
• But Kiram’s brother and other followers refused to return to the southern Philippines.
• Meanwhile, Malaysia’s prime minister said on Monday authorities would relocate residents of areas deemed vulnerable to foreign infiltration as they continued to try to root out Filipino Islamic invaders.

Source: AP