Making unnecessary noise over Philippines claim on Sabah

Malaysiakini:

Finger-pointing over Philippines claim on Sabah

A bill by the Philippines' House of Representatives has now become a campaign topic for the Sabah elections.

The bill aims to amend the Philippines Passport Act 1996 to include Sabah on the map of the country which is featured on the cover of Filipino passports.

Since last month, Warisan president and caretaker chief minister Mohd Shafie Apdal had urged Putrajaya to resolve the matter once and for all by engaging with the Philippines government.

Shafie had argued that the Cobbold Commission in 1963 had already determined that Sabahans had chosen Malaysia and the matter should no longer be in dispute.

This led to condemnations from PCS president Anifah Aman, a former Malaysian foreign minister, who attacked Shafie for suggesting that that the matter was up for negotiation and accused the latter of legitimising the Philippines claim.

Earlier today, current Foreign Affairs Minister Hishammuddin Hussein got into the fray by accusing Shafie of the same, citing a Berita Harian article dated Aug 28.

"As a leader in Sabah, Shafie should be more assertive and not try to 'give face' to outsiders who are questioning Sabah's sovereignty.

"Malaysia's position is the same, we will not negotiate or acknowledge any claims on Sabah," wrote Hishammuddin on his Facebook page.

Warisan permanent chairperson Liew Vui Keong (above), a former law minister, was the latest to join the fray, accusing Hishammuddin of trying to score political points because of the elections.

Describing Hishammuddin's comments as "shocking", Liew said had the Foreign Affairs Ministry done their job, then the Philippines would not have proposed their bill.

According to Liew, Hishammuddin was shifting the blame to Shafie for the failures of the Foreign Ministry.

"(If the foreign ministry had done its job), I as a Sabahan MP, would not have had to raise and debate the emergency motion in the Dewan Rakyat (last month)," said Liew, who is the Batu Sapi MP.

At the time, deputy foreign minister Kamarudin Jaffar told the Dewan Rakyat that the bill was a private bill and not the official stand of the Philippines government.

"It is a polemic deliberately repeated by Filipino politicians solely to garner support in their local politics," he said, according to the Malay Mail.

KT notes:

Prior to recent times, that is, prior to post-PH govt following the treachery of Mahathir and his abrupt unexpected non-consulted resignation, I had admired the intellect of Liew CT as I have that of Rais Hussin of PPBM. But alas, since PH collapsed, some of the DAP leaders including Liew appear not to have learned from their naive trusting but idiotic selves. It appears Liew's intellect has collapsed together with his PH govt.

Contrary to Liew's accusation in Malaysiakini's DAP leader: Hishammuddin should resign for playing politics which narrates:

Former deputy defence minister Liew Chin Tong (not the other Liew - photo above) has called for Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to step down from his post, claiming that the latter is jeopardising foreign relations by scoring cheap political points.

This came after Hishammuddin accused Sabah incumbent chief minister Shafie Apdal of being soft on the claim by some Philippines politicians to Sabah.

"For Hishammuddin to attempt to turn this into an issue to portray himself as 'tough' while Shafie as 'soft' on the Philippines is utterly disgusting political opportunism.

... the Foreign Ministry has NOT done anything wrong but au contraire, has correctly IGNORED the ludicrous claim by Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr that the Borneo state of Sabah is not a part of Malaysia but that of Pinoy-Land.

That Pinoy preposterous claim began in late July when the US embassy in Manila posted a statement on social media stating that it had distributed hygiene kits to Filipinos who had returned "from Sabah, Malaysia".

In response to the post, Locsin wrote to the US embassy (no doubt for his own domestic political purposes): "Sabah is not in Malaysia if you want to have anything to do with the Philippines."

Of course Hishammuddin said of that unfriendly remark by Locsin, "This is an irresponsible statement that affects bilateral ties."

But that's as far as Hishamuddin should go, and certainly NOT in accordance with Shafie Apdal's call for "Putrajaya to resolve the matter once and for all by engaging with the Philippines government."

Why the eff should Malaysia engage with the Philippines on spurious foreign claims to "our soil"? We should eff-ing ignore-snub those bandits and murderers of our police (in Lahad Datu).

Now, shall Putrajaya also respond to Thailand's claim of Kedah, Perlis, and Kelantan, or to India's claim of medieval ownership of Kedah?

Sadly, Liew Chin Tong is now like his leader Lim KS in becoming a run-of-the-mill trouble-maker, to wit, making hoo-hah just for the sake of making noise. Perhaps he should resign as he brazenly asked Hisham to.