Philippine sultan says followers will not leave Sabah
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Filipino Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III gestures as he talks on a mobile phone during a news conference in Alabang, south of Manila, Philippines, on Sunday. Mr Kiram said his younger brother and about 500 relatives and followers, including at least 20 armed escorts, recently travelled from the southern Philippines to resettle in eastern Sabah state in Malaysia, which he said his royal clan owns, and not to sow violence in the region. Malaysian police surrounded the Filipinos in a Sabah coastal village. -- PHOTO: AP
MANILA (AFP) - Followers of a Philippine sultan who crossed to the Malaysian state of Sabah this month will not leave and are reclaiming the area as their ancestral territory, the sultan said on Sunday amid a tense stand-off.
Sultan Jamalul Kiram said his followers - some 400 people, including 20 gunmen - were resolute in staying despite being cornered by security forces, with the Kuala Lumpur government insisting the group return to the Philippines.
"Why should we leave our own home? In fact, they (the Malaysians) are paying rent (to us)," he told reporters in Manila.
"Our followers will stay in (the Sabah town of) Lahad Datu. Nobody will be sent to the Philippines. Sabah is our home," he said.
