On the Sabah Conflict: Preliminary Thoughts

Reference to Aljazeera report:

"Malaysia bombs armed Filipino group in Sabah"

Southeast Asia is confronted with an ongoing conflict in Sabah or the north Borneo. This involves the revival of interest in the long dormant territorial disputes between a sultanate (Sulu) and two nation-states (Malaysia and the Philippines). Mainstream media are silent about it. But it has become a convoluted issue demanding interdisciplinary research and delicate policy decisions for the resolution of the conflict. So far, I find it difficult to make a coherent analysis and, importantly, propose a plausible solution to this conflict. In the meantime, I have here a few initial thoughts and questions addressed to concerned entities.

To the Sultanate of Sulu: Is your claim of Sabah for your family or for the Philippines? I, politically, have particular issues on your assertions of "proprietary" claims. 

Sabah has evolved into a cosmopolitan society with Sabahans composed of different peoples where aboriginals have lived together with other ethno-religious groups, citizens, and diasporas. How is the ideal of "the right to self-determination" understood within your sultanate? How do you see the sultanate, which predates the Westphalian system, within contemporary formation of the global community of nation-states?   

To the Philippine government: PNoy's foreign policy is truly bananas — on the US, China, ASEAN, and now on this Sabah issue! Why let Malaysia — particularly, Najib's ruthless and selfish 55-year old UMNO/BN established network of elites — have the leverage over the Philippines? Various academic researches and news analyses have been done pointing to the highly dubious and questionable decency and character of Malaysia's deeply entrenched elites. Thus, can the Malaysian government under Najib and UMNO/BN be seriously regarded as "honest brokers" especially on the ongoing GPH-MILF peace process — and given the public knowledge of Malaysia's role in the history of armed and secessionist rebellion in Muslim Mindanao?

Does PNoy personally believe that Sabah is part of the Philippine territory? If so, as a statesman, he should have convinced the Sultanate's supporters to come home peacefully with a sincere offer that the government shall pursue this claim on behalf of the Sultanate and the Philippine state at an international tribunal. If not, does being a family of "land grabbers" make him insensitive to peoples' rightful land claims — thus, calling a group's legitimate historical aspiration a "hopeless cause"?

To the Malaysian government: Najib's UMNO's real stance and political-economic interest in the GPH-MILF peace process and their overall engagement with the Philippine government is being revealed with the way they deal with the Sabah standoff. 

Why undertake the Israeli-style air strikes to murder fellow Muslims with rightful territorial claims and against a population with no defense capabilities of a modern nation-state? Unfortunately, even opposition politicians are being taken for a ride with all these "nationalist" prodding peddled by Najib's UMNO/BN allies. Lest we forget, Sabah has always served a reliable and manipulable constituency for UMNO/BN's electoral needs, in addition to its purpose as an important economic resource for elites' rent-seeking activities and for the economy as a whole.

I guess my call for now is for sobriety, for a dialogue, for peace. Stop the dangerous drift to negative nationalism and all forms of fundamentalisms! 

We are currently addressing the conflict the wrong way. We should learn from our Southeast Asia's history of conflicts that the "military solution" — as well as media/PR spin strategies — to territorial, ethnic, and identity conflicts is absolutely not the way to live a good life in a shared region! 

We are Southeast Asians! We are human beings!