Repository on Sabah’s historical events taking shape

KOTA KINABALU: A repository on Sabah’s historical events including its relations with the defunct Sulu Sultanate is finally taking shape under the state’s Institute of Development Studies (IDS).

IDS chief executive officer Dr Ramzah Dambul (pic) said the process of establishing the Research Centre for North Borneo History (RCNBH) under the IDS has begun, with a committee to formally establish the repository.

The pro-tem members included people who have been working on historical records of Sabah for years, he added.

“In terms of gathering records, that is already in place with our pro-tem members having done work for so many years (on their own interest).

“Now, the issue is to establish a proper repository centre to house all the material, and to also support consolidating this effort under one umbrella to have more impact,” Ramzah said when contacted yesterday.

He said the RCNBH could take about three or six months and would need the endorsement of the Chief Minister’s Department and the Cabinet.

Ramzah said that RCNBH would not be a “mere” repository centre for all our documents but would also be a platform to glue all activities leading to the issue of the Sulu claim through research and exchange of ideas, among others.

“We basically also consolidate all experts under this centre – so the perspective will be stronger and more precise,” he added.

State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun recently suggested for the IDS to house the North Borneo repository as the Sabah Attorney General’s Office was reluctant.

Sabah Law Society (SLS) has been pressing the state government to set up a repository that will put in place a proper and documented perspective of Sabah’s history with regard to the Sulu sultanate for the Federal Government’s reference.

SLS president Roger Chin initially pushed for a legal repository under Sabah AGC that would have full historical background and legal arguments of any international cases related to Sabah claims.

The proposal for the repository came after SLS hosted a webinar discussion on the Philippines/Sulu claims recently, where speakers included former Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, Singapore-based Queen’s Counsel Dr Colin Ong and former Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee.

The webinar highlighted that the collection of information, including crucial historical information, was haphazard and spread out over disparate individuals.

Thomas had also said that when he was AG, he was not aware of certain historical documents when handling the Federal Government’s case against the so-called Sulu heirs.

Sabah does not recognise the Sulu claim.