Sabah belongs to Philippines or Mindanao belongs to Johor?

At that time Philippines did not exist yet. It was merely a collection of islands and it was not until 1571 that Spain created Philippines with Manila as its capital. So, if we go back in history, Sabah is not part of Philippines but instead Mindanao is part of Johor — as is Riau in Indonesia and the Celebes or Sulawesi, what was then the Bugis Johor-Riau Empire that later included Selangor.

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Raja Petra Kamarudin

Sabah is not part of the Philippines and neither is Mindanao and the Sulu Sea

Philippines has renewed its claim that Sabah belongs to them. They say historically Sabah was part of the Sultanate of Sulu, which is now part of Philippines. Hence Sabah belongs to Philippines.

Okay, if we want to talk about history, the Sultanate of Sulu was a Muslim state (not a Catholic state), which ruled the islands in the Sulu Archipelago. The Sulu Empire included parts of Mindanao, in what is today called Philippines, and certain parts of Palawan and north-eastern Borneo or Sabah and North Kalimantan.

The Sulu Sultanate was founded on 17 November 1405 by a Johore-born religious scholar, Paduka Mahasari Maulana al Sultan Sharif ul-Hashim. The Sultanate gained its independence from the Brunei Empire in 1578.

Johor after the 1511 Portuguese invasion of Melaka

At that time Philippines did not exist yet. It was merely a collection of islands and it was not until 1571 that Spain created Philippines with Manila as its capital. So, if we go back in history, Sabah is not part of Philippines but instead Mindanao is part of Johor — as is Riau in Indonesia and the Celebes or Sulawesi, what was then the Bugis Johor-Riau Empire that later included Selangor.

So, how far back in history do we want to go? The Bugis first settled in the region long before Jesus was born so technically the Bugis own parts of Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia.