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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-8/sultan-muedzul-kiram.webp" alt="Sultan Muedzul Lail Tan Kiram" />
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(Sultan Muedzul Lail Tan Kiram)
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The Kiram family can withdraw from its deal with the government and take full ownership of and sovereignty over Sabah, the Sultanate's Prime Minister or Wazir Amroussi Rasul stated on Friday, August 8, 2020.
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Sultan Muedzul Lail Tan Kiram, chief of the Royal House of Sulu, however would take the official route in asking President Rodrigo Duterte to put the Sabah issue on the table with the Malaysian government.
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Rasul said:
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"That's the proviso in the Sultanate's agreement with the Philippine government ­ with the late President Diosdado Macapagal, that the People of Sulu could take the sovereignty back if the government would not be able to fulfill its part of our deal."
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Rasul, however, said the Sultanate is not giving up on having an audience with the President, who declared the Philippines' claim on Sabah as part of his advocacies when he sought the presidency in 2016.
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Rasul said:
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"We are counting on his promise.  He made Sabah part of his campaign vows. We're counting on his words."
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The Sulu chief is also extending efforts to unite the fragmented family to be able to galvanize one voice in pushing for their Sabah claim. Rasul said:
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"We do not want a war. But Malaysia must honor its commitment to the people of Sulu and recognize the Philippine government's sovereignty on the island which came from us."
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The government of Malaysia has suspended payment of its lease to the Royal House of Sulu following the incursion of some 230 militants sent by Jamalul Kiram III in February 2013. It was paying the family 5,000 Malaysian dollars as specified in its contract of lease with the British firm.
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Kiram led the Sultanate for a time when his nephew, Sultan Muedzul Lail Tan Kiram, was still very young to govern.
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Jamalul Kiram III, however, died several months after that misadventure in Sabah in 2013.
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With Sultan Muedzul now in power, the Sultanate is seeking Mr. Duterte's intercession to restore its ties with the Malaysian government and reclaim its rights over the island.
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Sabah was leased by the Sultan's great-grandfather Barradudin Kiram to the British North Borneo Company in 1878. The company, however, surrendered the island to Malaysia when it federated with Sarawak, Singapore and Sabah in 1963.
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The Sultanate of Sulu had surrendered Sabah's sovereignty with that caveat to the Philippine government in 1962, a year before the Malaysian federation came to form. Singapore was also expelled from the federation in 1964, resulting in its birth as a successful city state.
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The claim to Sabah had started earlier, though.
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The country has long been seeking to reclaim the island as early as 1950 when then Congressman Macapagal filed a resolution for its claim with fellow lawmakers Arturo Tolentino, Arsenio Lacson and Hadji Gulamu Rasul — grandfather of the present Wazir Amroussi Rasul.
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Macapagal was consistent in his desire to reclaim Sabah when he revived the effort in 1962. But it strained the country's relations with Malaysia.
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An Office of the North Borneo Affairs (ONBA) was also created by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to handle the country's claim on the island during Macapagal's presidency.
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The DFA was then led by the Vice President and concurrent Foreign Affairs Secretary Emmanuel Pelaez.
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Sulu could take back Sabah sovereignty it surrendered to the Philippines in 1962