Pawns in the game for Sabah

So called militant groups are now belatedly attending to the plight of Filipinos who are banished from what is supposed to be part of their homeland.

At the same time, the Manila government is getting embroiled in the condition of Filipinos being forcibly deported by the Malaysian government and returned to the country, particularly Zamboanga.

This policy of the Malaysian government of deporting Filipinos who have been working there or contributing to the economy and development of that country is unexplainable except for the fact that the Malaysians have also been suspicious of Filipinos, particularly those coming from the Sulu Archipelago or what used to be the Sultanate of Sulu.

The near phobic fear of the Malaysians of the Filipino presence in Sabah can be traced to what happened way back in the 18th century

In that century, the Sultan of Sulu came to the aid of his cousin, the Sultan of Brunie to put down a revolt in what was then called Borneo or Sabah.

In return for his help, the Sultan of Brunie handed over Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu.

In January 22, 1878, the Sultan of Sulu entered into a lease agreement with two adventurers the Austrian Gustavus Baron Overbeck and Englishman Alfred Dent for their use of Sabah. This lease agreement for 100 years was supposed to expire in January 22, 1978.

In the interregnum of 100 years, the British Government took over the management of Sabah from Overbeck and Dent and despite protestation from the Sultanate of Sulu, included Sabah as part of the newly Federated states of Malaysia that was granted its independence on August 31, 1957.

By the time the 100 year lease Agreement was supposed to expire in 1978, the newly federates government of Malaysia was effectively in control of Sabah.

Incidentally, to this day the Malaysian government continues to pay “rental” for Sabah to the Sultanate of Sulu.

The Malaysian has this morbid fear that sooner or later, the Sultanate will try to retake Sabah and thus fear that the presence of Filipinos in that State could be part of that plan to repossess that territory.

Is it any wonder then that Filipinos who helped developed Sabah, constructed its highways and building, are being maltreated to this day.

We refuse to look at things this way and this is the reason why we despair.