2013 Lahad Datu standoff: Reason and effect

2013 Lahad Datu standoff:  Reason and effect

On Feb 11, 2013, all of the Malaysians had been shocked by the news about a group of armed people which calling themselves the "Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo" leading by Agbimuddin Kiram, the brother of the Jamalul Kiram III, one of the claimants to the throne of the Sultanate of Sulu, arrived by boats in Lahad Datu, Sabah and pursue Sabah claim on their own. Manila and Kuala Lumpur have worked together to end the standoff peacefully, but in the end this standoff had been end violently because of the attacking behaviour of the Sulu sultanate which had killed 2 Malaysia police officer at 1 March 2013. This standoff had end in 24 March 2013 with a very sadness result which is reportedly saw a total of 68 deaths – 56 from the Sulu sultanate, nine from the Malaysian authorities and six civilians.

There was two reason which cause this standoff happen. First, the historical problem of the sovereignty of Sabah. Sabah was once the territory of the Brunei Empire and had been given as a gift from the sultan of Brunei to the Sultanate of Sulu for helping defeat an uprising in 1658. In 1878, the Sultanate of Sulu, which once extended through large swaths of the southern Philippines, leased Sabah in perpetuity to the British North Borneo Company, which in turn ceded control of the territory to the British government in 1946 and Sabah has become one of the part of Malaysia at 1963. Due to this historical reason, Malaysia has pay about $1,500 (about 5300 ringgit) every year to the sultan’s descendants. Although Malaysia only considers it an annual “cession” payment for the disputed state, but this payment had been consider as the “rent” of Sabah and being shown as proof by the current Sulu Sultan that even Malaysia recognized Sulu sovereignty over Sabah.

Next, the Sulu province was excluded by the peace deal struck between the government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which had sign a peace framework agreement. The Sulu Sultan believe that this agreement made no mention of the sultan’s claim, so he ask his men to take action to reclaim the land, including Sabah. Actually, the new peace accord will again shift administrative authority in the southern Philippines, so the action of Jamalul Kiram III and his supporters right now can help they to get more support around the people in south Philippines and can demanding recognition of their role in any future settlement from both Kuala Lumpur and, more important, from Manila.

The most important effect of this incident was taking more than 60 people’s life. This standoff had cause 68 people deaths – 56 from the Sulu sultanate, nine from the Malaysian authorities and six civilians. This was a very sadly report because all of the life are precious and no one have the right to take it away. If this incident did not happen, than this 68 people will not death.

Next, it had help the BN (Barisan Nasional) successfully won the national election in 2013 by getting the majority vote from Sabah people. The national election is the main reason which cause the Malaysia Government which leading by BN want to solve this standoff peacefully to avoid any military or police action that could turn ugly. This is why the government continues to offer more time to Manila to try to convince the group to leave Sabah peacefully. If a peaceful solution can be reached, then the ruling party will have proved itself capable of managing a complex territorial and ethnic issue with its neighbour. If it cannot, there is a risk that opposition parties can exploit the incident to make gains in the upcoming elections. Although this incident in the end been ended violently, but the decisive action which taken by government to protect the state sovereignty had make many people have confidence and respect to the government, and this make BN finally won the national election.

In conclusion,  2013 Lahad Datu standoff  had bring a very sadly result and also negative effect to Malaysia and also Philippines .We pray that God will continues protect our country and give the wisdom to the leader of country concerned so that this kind of tragedy will not be repeated.

                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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2013 Lahad Datu standoff (Speech)

Good afternoon to Madam and all my fellow friends. I am David. Today I want to share about one serius case which happen in the year of 2013, that is 2013 Lahad Datu standoff.

First of all, what is 2013 Lahad Datu standoff? It was a military conflict between Malaysia and "Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo" which started on 11 February 2013 and ended on 24 March 2013. At 11 February 2013, a group of armed people arrived by boats in Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia which leading by Agbimuddin Kiram, the brother of the Jamalul Kiram III, one of the claimants to the throne of the Sultanate of Sulu. They calling themselves the "Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo" and pursue Sabah claim on their own. This case had been end violently because of the attacking behaviour of the Sulu sultanate which had killed 2 Malaysia police officer at 1 March 2013.

Simply to say, it just like a group of strangers coming to your house which you getting by legal way from your ancestors registered under your name and you already live in this house more than 50 years, with arm, and told you that this house was once owned by his ancestors and now he want to get back it. But, they cannot show any legal document to support they statement, so they want to use arms to occupy the house and kick out you. You want to slove the problem peacefully by calling the police to come, but they started to open fire and finally killing 2 police officers. In this kind of situation, you only can choose to solve it violently.

I think until here many of you will confuse that what is “Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo “? The Sultanate of Sulu(1405–1915) was a Muslim state that ruled the islands in the Sulu Archipelago, parts of Mindanao at Filipina, certain portions of Palawan and north-eastern Borneo (present-day the certain parts of Sabah and North Kalimantan).The first Islamic sultanate of Sulu was established in the mid-1400s by a member of the Hashemite family and a direct descendent of the Prophet Mohammed. But since the year of 1915 the sovereignty of this country was relinquished through an agreement that was signed with the last colonialist of Sulu, the United States. Now, they only one of the armed groups which leading by Jamalul Kiram III which entrenched in some of the village in Sulu and fighting with the gorvenment of Filipina to try to build a Islamic country at Southern Philippines. In Sountheren Phillippines have a lot of armed group which as same like them.

So, what is the reason who cause 2013 Lahad Datu standoff  ?

First, the historical problem of the sovereignty of Sabah.Sabah was once the territory of the Brunei Empire and had been given as a gift from the sultan of Brunei to the Sultanate of Sulu for helping defeat an uprising in the year of 1658. In 1878, the Sultanate of Sulu, which once extended through large swaths of the southern Philippines, leased Sabah in perpetuity to the British North Borneo Company, which in turn ceded control of the territory to the British government in 1946 and Sabah has become one of the part of Malaysia at 1963. Due to this historical reason, Malaysia has pay about $1,500 (about 5300 ringgit) every year to the sultan’s descendants. Malaysia only considers it an annual “cession” payment for the disputed state, but this payment had been consider as the “rent” of Sabah and being shown as proof by the current Sulu Sultan that even Malaysia recognized Sulu sovereignty over Sabah.

The Sulu province was excluded by the peace deal struck between the government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) .This MILF is one of the biggest armed group at Southern Philippines.They had sign a peace framework agreement and the Sulu Sultan believe that this agreement made no mention of the sultan’s claim.So he ask his men to take action to reclaim the land, including Sabah. This action can help him to get more support around the people in south Philippines  and also can demanding recognition of their role in any future settlement from both Kuala Lumpur and, more important, from Manila.

So, what is the effect which bring by 2013 Lahad Datu standoff ? 

First of all, this standoff had cause 68 people deaths -- 56 from the Sulu sultanate, nine from the Malaysian authorities and six civilians. This was a very sadly report because all of the life are precious and no one have the right to take it away. If this incident did not happen, than this 68 people will not death.

Next, it help the BN (Barisan Nasional) successfully won the national election in 2013. The national election is the main reason which cause the Malaysia Government which leading by BN want to solve this standoff peacefully to avoid any military or police action that could turn ugly to the image of the gorvenment. Although this incident in the end been ended violently, but the decisive action which taken by government to protect the state sovereignty had make many people(specially the people which is living at Sabah) have confidence and respect to the government, and this make BN finally won the national election, because they successfully getting the majority vote from Sabah people.

In conclusion,  2013 Lahad Datu standoff  had bring a very sadly result and also negative effect to Malaysia and also Philippines .We pray that God will continues protect our country and give the wisdom to the leader of country concerned so that this kind of tragedy will not be repeated.

Thank you.