‘Face-saving’ solution to Sabah

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Apr 3, 2013

(New Mandala) – The Rajamuda Agmuddin Kiram, like Hadji Kamlon, may agree to some lenient penalty for his actions. But to demand unconditional surrender, he and his men would rather die in Sabah. To surrender is simply not part of their culture.

The Government of the Philippines (GPH) declared 18 March as Bangsamoro Day in commemoration of the struggle of the Bangsamoro for self-determination and to mark the anniversary of the Jabidah Massacre. No less than the president of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III leads the ceremony in Corregidor Island – the first president to ever recognise the Jabidah Massacre. In his opening statement, he reminded everyone of the role played by his father and the Constitution in averting what could have been a bloody conflict between Malaysia and the Philippines over Sabah.

From a Cold War perspective, a full blown war between these two neighbouring countries was highly unacceptable. Both were closely allied with the ‘Western Bloc’ and were frontline countries in the fight against communism. This could be the reason why the United States did not support the late President Ferdinand Marcos in his Sabah claim. This would have weakened both countries making them more susceptible to communist influence. This was the United States strategy for containment in the prevailing paradigm of that period – the Domino theory – a belief that Southeast Asian countries would fall one by one into communism unless the West intervened.

Fortunately, the war over Sabah, between Malaysia and the Philippines, was averted. One key factor for the aversion of war, was due to the courage of the Moro recruits, who disobeyed orders and refused to participate in a war that may have resulted in the death of their fellow Muslims and relatives living in Sabah. The Moro recruits in Corregidor Island sacrificed their lives, and in turn saved the lives of hundreds if not thousands of Malaysians that may have died had Operation Merdeka continued. Ironically, the ensuing secessionist war in the Philippines sparked by the Jabidah Massacre resulted in the death of more than 120,000 people in Mindanao. Malaysia of course played a vital role in the formation and training of these secessionist groups.

History could have been different had the Moro recruits obeyed orders and pursued their goal of destabilising Sabah for eventual annexation by the Philippines. And the secessionist war in the Philippines, that has cost so many lives and untold economic damage, probably would have not happened.

It makes one wonder why Malaysia is seemingly unperturbed by what happened in Corregidor Island in 1968. It should be the Malaysians who should be commemorating the sacrifices of the Moro recruits and declare them heroes for foiling Operation Merdeka. This lack of appreciation of history is possibly one of the reasons why the handling of the ‘Sabah incursion’ has ended up in a bloody confrontation.

Undeniably, there is much to be desired on how both the governments of Malaysia and the Philippines have addressed the ‘Sabah incursion’. At the very onset both governments were aware of the alleged conspiracies of some powerful people that encouraged and funded Sultan Jamalul Kiram III to send his men in Lahad Datu. In spite of this, they still fell into the alleged conspirators’ trap. The knee-jerk reaction from both countries to make pronouncements without first assessing the impact of their statements escalated the tensions rather than diffused it.