Sabah Once Belonged to Sultan of Sulu

Sabah, an oil-rich region forming the northern part the great Borneo Island, used to be a property of the Sultan of Sulu. Its 73,620-square-kilometer land area is about twice the size of Switzerland and teems with incomparable natural resources. The territory is still being claimed by the Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III. The Sulu sultanate was founded by Rajah Baginda in 1430. According to the present sultan, his claim goes as far back as 1704 when the Sultan of Brunei ceded part of then North Borneo which now comprises Sabah to the Sultan of Sulu in the southern Philippines for his help in suppressing a rebellion. There are about 500,000 Filipinos, most of them Muslims, living in Sabah. They fled to the territory in the 1970s during heavy fighting between Muslim rebels and the government troops. Sabah is only four hours by boat from the southernmost island-province of Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines.