KORONADAL City – Sabah is an integral and an indivisible part of the ancestral homeland of the Bangsamoro people. This is the unified consensus and decision jointly issued yesterday (September 8) by the top brass of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) as contained in a signed   document called “Koronadal Declaration.”

And they all pledged to bring the case of Sabah to the attention of the United Nations and the World Court in the hope to exercise once again their people’s sovereignty. “We strongly support the MNLF leadership under H.E. Dr. Nur Misuari, along with the Sultanate of Lupah Sug (Sulu) and North Borneo (Sabah), to pursue vigorously our movement’s and people’s claim of sovereignty and proprietary rights over Sabah in the International Court of Justice in Hague, believing, as we do, that Sabah is an integral part of our ancestral Homeland.”

Sabah is an integral part of the indivisible territorial domain of the Sultanate of Sulu, a once powerful Moro nation-state in Southeast Asia, and even recognized by the great powers of the time such as China, Britain, Ottoman Empire, Netherlands and even the United States of America, as manifested in international treaties it entered into with such independent countries. Leased by the sovereign Sulu Sultan to British North Borneo Company in the 19^th century, then gullibly swallowed by Great Britain when it ruled Malaya during colonial times, and illegally annexed by Malaysia through a fraud referendum when it became fully independent in 1963.

In a strong manifestation once again to collectively claim what is legally theirs, the military commanders, officers, field marshals, Christian and Lumad top brass of the MNLF, in a historic National Assembly of Tri-people and Command Conference held at Marbel, this City in the province of South Cotabato, further urge the community of nations to condemn Malaysia for the inhuman and barbaric treatment of the Bangsamoro refugees, and called the attention of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to immediately intervene in this brewing international tension. “We strongly urge the United Nations General Assembly to condemn this inhuman, barbaric and atrocious mass deportation of Bangsamoro refugees, who in the first place have historic, legal and sovereign rights to dwell in that territory.”

The Declaration added that the regime of Mahathir, by way of this mass deportation of Bangsamoro refugees, has violated “all international covenants, conventions and protocols, most particularly the Geneva Convention of 1951 (the convention relating to the status of the refugees), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Islamic Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the Vienna Declaration of 1993.” The Declaration added that this brutal act of the Malaysian authority, coupled with their abuses of our women and children, is tantamount to waging war against our people.

The Bangsamoro refugees in Sabah (North Borneo) are estimated to be more than 500,000. Like all other political and economic refugees, they evacuated in waves decades ago to that island territory to escape the misery of the war between the MNLF and the Manila government. For reason of proximity and traditional belief that the Moros somehow are de jure territorial nationals of that island, owing to its ownership by the Sulu Sultanate, these pathetic evacuees sought refuge there. It is but 45 kilometers away from the Bangsamoro shore of Tawi-tawi, and more than 2000 kilometers away to peninsular Malaysia

Triggered by this cruel and horrible mass deportation, they further declare: “We will struggle for the ultimate realization of the United Nations Resolution no. 1514, issued on December 14, 1960, over our colonized ancestral homeland of Mindanao, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Palawan, North Borneo (Sabah) and all its islands.” Adding that such UN resolution calls for “The granting of independence to all colonized countries and peoples of the world.”

The Declaration also called upon Malacanang to immediately release their leader, MNLF Central Committee Chairman Nur Misuari, who is currently detained on “rebellion” case so-called by the Manila government. “We strongly call upon the Philippine government under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to release immediately and unconditionally H.E. Chairman Nur Misuari,” adding that his continued detention is illegal, unjust and violative of His Excellency’s human rights. They also emphasized that when Chairman Misuari was refouled from Malaysia to the Philippines in January this year, he was—and still is—“an internationally protected person,” an inviolable right guaranteed by the 4^th Geneva Convention.  

The Koronadal Declaration is signed by the Conference host Major General Rodrigo Fabillon, Jr, the Commanding General of the Christian Unified Command- Special Forces of the MNLF, along with the MNLF Central Committee Vice Chairman Gen. Jimmy Labawan, MNLF Secretary General Ustaz Murshi Ibrahim, MNLF Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs Gen. Zaide Salman, Gen. Rizal Jilhano, chief of the National Field Command of the Bangsamoro Armed Forces (BAF), Gen. Dhock Parnan, Deputy chief of Staff of BAF, Major General (Reverend) Sammy Tagalog, chief of the Mindanao Allied Christian Command of the MNLF, Gen. Nasser Manalao, Chairman of Ranao del Norte State Revolutionary Committee, Gen. Jhanny Sugagil, Chairman of Lower Sebangan Kutawato State Revolutionary Committee, Gen. Usman Jillah, Chairman of Occidental Misamis State Revolutionary Committee, Gen. Nurhasan Albani, chief of the National Security Command (NASCOM), Gen. Ustaz Ali Maguintao, chief of the Task Force Al-Badr and other senior officers, as well as by the 1,816 delegates to the Assembly.

Adding historical significance to this Assembly was the presence of His Royal Highness Sultan Mohammad Jamalul Kiram III, the reigning Sultan of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo (Sabah), who called the Mahathir regime as “landgrabber.” He called all his rahyat (subjects) “to rally behind the Sultanate and the MNLF in defense of justice and freedom and to continue the struggle for self-rule, to include Sabah.”###