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.
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.
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?
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.
So why Sabah don't make claim over Palawan, West Mindanao etc?
ReplyDeletePhillipines maintains its historical claim over Sabah for "domestic consumption" posturing. It is very, very unlikely for the Philipines to actually exercise any actual action over its claims.
ReplyDeleteMalaysians should pay much, much more attention to the Very Real Threat arising from CCP Nine-Dick-Line claims over Malaysian islands and waters which are rightfully part of Malaysia's EEZ.
Wakakakakaka…
DeleteEEZ!
Old moneyed mfer, do u know why yr uncle Sam didn't/doesn't normalised the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (1982), which governs/defines EEZ?
Take yr bloody time to look at the map of gulf of Mexico lah.
Only then u fart about the rightfulness of the EEZ. Especially those of the Caribbean nations!
Territories under Nine dash lines have historical justifications, which a non signatory US manipulated to become irrelevant.
For what?
& mfers like u r just kissing yr uncle Sam's ass & following the leaking foul gaseous.
Typical CCP-cocksucker!
DeleteWe're talking South China Sea, and the threat of CCP claims over Malaysian islands and territorial waters.
This CCP Dickhead suddenly diverts to unrelated subject to US, Caribbean and Mexico.
Old moneyed mfer, u r using EEZ as yr f*cking argument!
DeleteI'm just elaborate how EEZ was/is been manipulated by yr uncle Sam to his advantage with the helps of his blurred acolytes like bolihland & Vietnam.
W/O the false bases of EEZ, what threats of CCP claims over SC sea, Malaysian islands and territorial waters r there?
Diversion is the ONLY game u know how to play to spread out take news, right?
It is obvious that the real perpetrators of the current discord are the immigrants who arrived from 2,000km away by boats. Sabah and the surrounding islands have been the playground for the natives of the region long before the people of the North came to exploit the wealth of the land below the wind.
ReplyDeleteorang dari utara rajin amanah dan disiplin, orang dari barat curi rompak dan samun.
DeleteAnthropological records indicate the Kadazans came from northern lands, especially Taiwan.
DeleteWho are you to call them exploiters ?
By now, Malaysia should have learnt the lesson from the Pedra Branca fiasco.
ReplyDeleteOne of the key reasons Malaysia lost its case in The Hague is that , for over 150 years, the Johor Sultanate and its successors, Federation of Malaya, then Malaysia failed to produce a single document asserting that it had sovereignty over Pedra Branca and objecting to Singapore's claim.
In territorial disputes, silence is Not Golden.
You Must Speak Up, You Must Assert, You Must Object is the legal principle.
Hishamuddin, in particular , is guilty of Silence , both as Defence Minister and now , Foreign Minister.
The CCP Navy carried out Exercise of Sovereignty acts at James Shoal , just off the Sarawak coast, by placing a territorial marker at the reef.
The Malaysian Navy Chief , and then Defence Minister Hisham stupidly denied the incident.
Who were they trying to kid ?
The CCP Navy certainly knew they were there at James Shoal, and would have interpreted submissive behavior by Malaysia as weakness.
I don't think Philippines will ever occupy Sabah soil, but if they continue to assert the claim, they may well interfere in Malaysian EEZ waters, including Oil and Gas activities.
Liew Chin Tong is right. Silence in this case is not being Tough, in fact, it will be interpreted as weakness.