The Sultanate of Sulu, an autonomous kingdom within the Philippines, claimed March 1 that 10 members of the royal army were killed and four more injured in an attack by Malaysian authorities on Lahad Datu, the village seized by the Sulu partisans in Sabah state on Borneo. Malaysian authorities deny any reports of violence. Sultanate spokesman Abraham Idjirani told reporters in Manila that he was informed of the attack by Raj Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, who is leading the royal army partisans at Lahad Datu. Kiram is the brother of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III. Idjirani said Malaysian officials are seeking “to cover up the truth.” (Philippine Star, Reuters via Malaysia Chronicle, March 1)
Malaysia: assault on Sulu partisans
Militant leader Agbimuddin Kiram has not called home in 24 hours, his brother the Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III said March 7, after Malaysian forces launched an assault on the village seized by the Sulu partisans with air-strikes and thousands of troops. (NYT, Malaysian Insider, March 5)
Borneo natives defeat big hydro
A Malaysian state minister last month announced that the government will no longer pursue a complex of 12 new hydro-dams in Borneo’s Sarawak state, bordering Sabah on the west. (See map.) The minister stated unequivocally that the government was backing off in response to widespread criticism, which has included several protests over the years by the Indigenous Peoples of Sarawak as well as environmentalists. (Intercontinental Cry, March 2; AFP, Feb. 8)