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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-8/bangsamoro-republic.webp" alt="Bangsamoro Federal State" />
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(Bangsamoro)
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The two territories are part of the 13 founding states of the Malaysian federal constitutional monarchy.
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Lawyer Rexie Bugaring, the MNLF senior legal adviser, disclosed on Wednesday, August 5, 2020, that the former rebel group plans to elevate the Sabah claim of the Sultanate of Sulu to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
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This, he said, would pave the way for the inclusion of the disputed territory in the proposed Federal system of government advocated by President Rodrigo Duterte.
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Bugaring added that MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari will submit to President Duterte his proposal to create the Bangsamoro Federal state with Sabah and Sarawak as parts of it.
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Sarawak is the largest of the 13 Malaysian states.
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OIC or UN?
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The MNLF also possesses a permanent observer status in the OIC. It is the recognized representative of the Bangsamoro people in the Philippines in the International Islamic body. Malaysia is a member of the OIC.
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Bugaring said:
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"The OIC may resolve the dispute or refer it to the United Nations." 
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The MNLF adviser also said President Duterte could instruct the Department of Foreign Affairs to endorse the petition to the UN.
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The MNLF, he claimed, has a pending petition before the UN General Assembly to grant independence to all colonized countries.
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Freeze political moves
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Nur Misuari, the MNLF founding chairman, however ordered to freeze all political moves on independence to pave the way for President Duterte's shift from Unitary to a Federal system of government.
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The MNLF joined Duterte in that call.
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When Misuari "proclaimed independence" at the height of the Zamboanga siege in 2013, Misuari had declared Mindanao, Palawan, Tawi Tawi, Basilan - including the Malaysian island of Sabah and Sarawak - as parts of the Bangsamoro Region (BMR).
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Misuari also raised the BMR flag prior to the Zamboanga siege in September 2013.
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Misuari included Sabah and Sarawak in the BMR as these territories were parts of the Sultanate of Sulu long before Malaysia became a sovereign country, Bugarin said.
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Malaysia came to form only when it united with Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo (Sabah) in 1963.
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Singapore was expelled from the Malaysian federation two years later.
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The Sultanate of Sulu, however, kept pursuing ownership of Sabah as it should not have been included in the Malaysian federation.
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Sabah was handed over to Sulu Sultan Jamalul A'lam as a gift by the Bruneian sultanate, the territory's former owner.
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In 1878 Jamalul, who ruled from 1862 to 1881, signed a lease agreement with British North Borneo, when British colonials allowed the company to operate in Sabah. The island was not part of the British colony as the Philippines was under Spanish rule.
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Questionable inclusion
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The Sultanate of Sulu and the Philippine government have questioned Sabah's inclusion in the Malaysian federation, although the government of Malaysia continued paying the sultanate's heirs of the supposed annual lease as originally signed by Jamalul with the defunct British firm.
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Malaysia, however, stopped payment in 2013 following the "incursion" by some 200 Tausug warriors from Sulu, reportedly on orders from Sultan Jamalul Kiram III to take control of the island.
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The group was turned back by the Malaysian forces with 60 members of the army killed in close armed clashes.
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Malaysia also reportedly received help from former President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, who ordered the Filipinos to return to Mindanao.
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But while Sulu Sultanate's Prime Minister or Wazir Amroussi Rasul said their group would seek help from President Duterte to start talks with Malaysia as he promised in 2016, he disclosed that the sultanate did not give the MNLF permission to elevate the Sabah matter before the OIC.  Rasul said:
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"The MNLF does not have the mandate of our Sultan Muedzul Lail Tan Kiram, chief of the Royal House of Sulu."
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"Our Sultan did not give the MNLF permission to represent us before the OIC."
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Malaysia also claims that it has a standing agreement with the Philippine government that the issue of Sabah should not be elevated before any international body.
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<b>Sources:</b>
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<ol class="article-sources">
<li>
Sabah, Sarawak in Moro federation, August 6, 2020,  <a href="https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2020/08/06/sabah-sarawak-in-moro-federation/" class="news_link" target="_blank" title="Source">By Perseus Echeminada</a>, The Daily Tribune Headlines
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MNLF pushes for creation of Bangsamoro Federal State to include Sabah and Sarawak