International Law and the Sabah Dispute
![handle is hein.journals/ayil1967 and id is 113 raw text is: International Law and the Sabah Dispute
By GEOFFREY MARSTON
SENIOR LECTURER IN LAW, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY,
CANBERRA
If supported by the occasional presence of a gun-boat,
I think the proposed Company would not have much
difficulty with the natives, many of whom would welcome
British rule.
Acting Consul-General Treacher to the
Earl of Derby, ,2 January 1878.
On 18 September 1968 the Philippine President signed a Con-
gressional Bill for the demarcation of the Philippine territorial sea
which in its terms assumed Philippine sovereignty over the Malaysian
State of Sabah. This assumption was described by the Prime Minister
of Malaysia as a violation of Malaysian sovereignty and territorial
integrity, and as such is a highly provocative act tantamount to
aggressiont.11 Thus began another stage in the history of strained
relations between the two States over title to Sabah. The current
dispute, which has been aggravated by economic and political factors,
nevertheless has its origins in events which give rise to highly complex
issues of international law.21
It is proposed to set out in a compressed form the legal arguments
of both sides and then to assess the position in international law,
although in an article of this length it is impossible to do more
than to outline some of the multitude of difficult issues which would
be raised if the dispute were ever submitted to an international judicial
tribunal.
The Philippine Caseta]
The Philippine Government maintains that the part of northern
Borneo which is now called Sabah was at all material times under the
territorial sovereignty of the Sultanate of Sulu, an entity once recog-
1 See London Times, 19 September 1968, p. 5.
2 Much of the diplomatic history of North Borneo is contained in the Con-
fidential Print of the Foreign Office (referred to in this paper as Conf.)
particularly in the set filed in the Public Record Office, London, as FO 572
(Borneo and Sulu). This set is made up of 30 volumes each bearing a
separate Conf. number. Another set containing relevant material is FO 834
which is made up of the annual prints of opinions given to the Foreign
Office by the law officers of the Crown.
An incomplete set of the Foreign Office Confidential Print to 1913 is located
in the National Library of Australia, Canberra.
3 See Philippine Claim to North Borneo, vol. I, Manila, Bureau of Printing
(1963); vol. II (1968); Selected Documents relating to the Philippine Claim
to North Borneo (1963), 2 Philippine International Law Journal, pp. 216-
339; ibid., Sumalong (pp. 6-17), an article critical of the Philippine claim;
Note 3 continued on p. 104.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ayil1967&div=7&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
International Law and the Sabah Dispute
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most