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By
Julmunir I. Jannaral, Correspondent
Darul Jambangan, Sulu: The historical bilateral relations of the
Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo Sabah and the Sultanate of Brunei
where based on historical account indicating the two have blood
relations would have more chances of being revived as the rulers of the
two Sultanates met for the first in Malacanang Palace last week.
Sultan
Muhammad Fuad Abdulla Kiram 1st, the 35th de jure reigning
ruler of the Sultan of Sulu and Sultan of Sabah had personally met His
Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzadin Waddaulah
during a state dinner in honor of the latter hosted by President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo and the First Gentleman lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo held
in Malacanang recently.
Aside
from the Sultan of Sulu and Sabah, senior officials of the Philippine
government and Brunei also attended the state dinner. Among them were
Chief Justice Reynato Puno; Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile; House
Speaker Prospero Nograles; Armed Forces Chief of Staff General
Alexander Yano; business tycoon Lucio Tan; Office on Muslim Affairs
Executive Director Datu Ali Sangki; members of the diplomatic corps as
well as members of the Senate and the House of Representatives; and
cabinet members. Brunei Foreign Minister Pehin Lim Jock Seng who was
also among the official entourage of the Sultan of Brunei that attended
the exclusive state dinner.
Sultan
Fuad Kiram told The Manila Times in an exclusive interview that he was
pleased to meet Sultan Bolkiah especially when he shook the hand of the
ruler of Brunei, and greeted him the Muslim greetings
“Assalamu Alaykum [Peace be with you] your
majesty.” He said Sultan Bolkiah responded to him
“Alaykum Wassalam [Peace be with you too] your
majesty.”
Based
on the genealogy, the two Sultans are related by blood as one family
because their common ancestor was Brunei Sultan Muhammad
Hassan whose reign was from 1582 to 1598. The genealogy further stated
that Sultan Muhammad Hassan had a wife who was a Brunei princess and
that the past sultans of Brunei originated and finally descended down
to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.
On
the other hand, Sultan Muhammad Hassan also had another wife who was a
princess from Sulu where the past Sultans of Sulu and Sabah North
Borneo had also originated, and descended eventually to Sultan Fuad
Kiram as the current 35th reigning Sultan of Sulu and Sabah.
The
historical account also stated that Palawan and North Borneo Sabah,
which is now the timber and oil rich Sabah were gifts by the Sultan of
Brunei to the Sultan of Sulu in 1658 after the Sulu Sultan helped the
former quell rebellion in Borneo. Thus, Palawan and Sabah became
properties of the Sulu crown from 1658 up to this day.
Prior
to Spain’s invasion in 1521, the place that is now the
Philippines was a Muslim dominion with the Sultan of Brunei ruling
Luzon, while the Sultan of Sulu ruled Visayas and Mindanao. In a joint
force, the Sultans of Brunei and Sultan of Sulu fought the Spanish
invasion together that lasted until 1690.
However,
from 1691 up to 1898, the Sultans who ruled the Sultanate of Sulu and
Sabah fought the Spaniards single-handedly. Thus, the meeting of Sultan
Fuad and Sultan Bolkiah in Malacanang last week was considered as
historic among royal cousins, and was indeed a sort of family reunion.
As
this developed, according to Prince Omar Kiram, the grand prince and
prince marshal of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo Sabah, the
official invitation by President Arroyo to Sultan Fuad to attend the
exclusive state dinner, where he was formally acknowledged as the
“Sultan of Sulu and Sultan of Sabah” was an
official recognition of Sultan Fuad as the legitimate ruler of the Sulu
Sabah Sultanate.
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