Sabah is not your political football, Duterte told

PETALING JAYA: Filipino politicians must realise that amateurish politics has no place within the spirit of Asean, says Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan (pic).

The Kota Belud MP was responding to a statement by Philippines’ president-elect Rodrigo Duterte who was quoted as saying that he would pursue the country’s claim on Sabah on Thursday. 

Abdul Rahman took to Twitter on Saturday to caution Duterte that he should realise that “Sabah is not to be his (Duterte’s) political football to be kicked around” in order to enhance his own domestic support.

“Amazing that president-elect Duterte's first few foreign affairs statements is to offend Malaysians by claiming Sabah belongs to the Philippines!” said Abdul Rahman who is also the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister.

Abdul Rahman also said that Sabah would remain a sovereign territory of Malaysia and that no amount of “political grandstanding coming from the Philippines” would ever change that.

“The sooner Filipino politicians realise that amateurish politics has no place within the spirit of Asean, the better,” he said.

Abdul Rahman said that Asean leaders should instead focus on integrating their economies in order to prosper together.

“Reviving historical and long settled territorial claims won't help.”

“We respect the choice made by the (Filipino) voters. But from now on, presidential words need to be uttered carefully,” said Abdul Rahman.

Earlier, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman had reaffirmed that Sabah would never acknowledge any such claim and would continue to be a part of Malaysia. 

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had also responded by saying that Sabah’s independence through Malaysia has been internationally recognised by the United Nations since 1963.

“We will defend every inch of Sabah’s sovereignty,” said Najib.