By ELLEN TORDESILLAS
IT was insensitive of Kris Aquino to feature the Sultan of Johor at the time when the wounds of the February-March Sabah bloodfight have not healed and the root of the problem has not been addressed.
Tuesday’s feature of Kris TV was the Sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Ismail, a close friend of the Aquinos.
Kris related that her family’s closeness with the Sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Ismail, dates back to their Boston stay in the mid’80s. The Sultan was a student in the United States at that time. Internet search showed that he received military training in the US–at Fort Benning, Georgia and later at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Kris said the image that she had of the Sultan during their Boston meetings was Ibrahim driving a Rolls Royce.
The Sultan showed off his collection of expensive cars, numbering 300. It is reported that the Johor Sultan and President Aquino share a passion for luxury cars
Kris excitedly quipped while she was touring the Sultan’s air-conditioned garage, “I’ll show Noy the video and he’ll come.”
The Lahad Datu siege in March this year, which was precipitated by the decision of the Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III to press their ownership of a large part of Sabah, now one of the 13 states of Malaysia despite the claim of the Philippines over the oil and mineral rich territory , some three-fourths of it was given by the Sultan of Brunei to the Sultan of Sulu in 1704 as a reward for the latter’s help in suppressing a rebellion.
Early February, some 80 to 100 men led by Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, brother of Jamalul Kiram III, arrived in the coastal village of Lahad Datu in Sabah and resisted attempts by Malaysian authorities to expel them. The fighting spread to the town of Semporna. One of the Malaysian policemen killed was L/Kpl Mohd Azrol Tukiran, a close friend of the Johor prince, Tuanku Laksamana Tunku Abdul Jalil, who is also a member of the Malaysian police.
A Malaysian newspaper reported that the Sultan of Johor wept over the policeman’s death saying the victim and his son” close friends and even slept next to each other during their police special forces training in Ulu Kinta in Perak.”
The Star quoted Sultan Ibrahim as saying “losing a close friend had affected the prince.”
Innocent civilians, mostly Filipinos, were caught in the conflict. President Aquino never condemned the atrocities. He even blamed Kiram for starting the trouble and threatened him and his men with legal actions.
It was a civil society groups that filed a complaint against Malaysia for maltreatment of Filipinos before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
Many wondered who was advising Aquino in his pro-Malaysian position in the Sabah conflict. Jacel Kiram, granddaughter of Jamalul Kiram III, said they have information that the Sultan of Johor was in touch with Aquino.
The position of Sultan of Johor, the 5th largest state by land area and 2nd most populous state in Malaysia, is ceremonial. The power is exercised by the chief minister.
In power plays, even figureheads have their uses. Apparently, Malaysia knows how to use them.
And the Philippines? Kris TV.
