Its President Datuk Yong Teck Lee on Friday said the historical piece of document unveiled amid the Philippines-China island dispute supposedly contained the entire territory of the Philippines.
"The disturbing part is that this same map also contains Sabah (named "Borney", an old Spanish spelling of Borneo) but is clearly identifiable as present day Sabah," he said.
"Philippines President Benigno Aquino sternly declared that Manila would not give up its Sabah claim," he added.
While Manila could use the map to resolve its dispute with China, it could also be used in staking the claim over Sabah based on the historical rights, said Yong.
He warned that the Philippines would have a legitimate claim over Sabah if the map had legal standing under international law.
"Maps shape people's view of themselves and the world.
"This old map is being used by the Filipinos to reinforce other modern Filipino maps that cast Sabah in the map of the Philippines," he said.
Towards this end, he warned there could be renewed sentiments among Filipinos following a new propaganda launched by Manila recently, to lift the expectations of its people to renew this claim.
"Malaysia must wake up to the dangers of the emotions of Filipinos being stirred up by the Philippine government's persistent claim on Sabah," he said.
"Such maps have the subtle effect of shaping Filipinos' views that their 'Sabah claim' has some legitimacy.
"Hence, they would feel justified in their actions towards Sabah," he said.
In 2001, Manila failed to intervene in the Malaysia-Indonesia dispute at the International Court of Justice on the sovereignty of the Sipidan and Ligitan islands.
The Philippines had tried to intervene in order to so-call "safeguard the historical and legal right of the Philippines arising from its claim to sovereignty over North Borneo."
Generally, Malaysia and the international community do not recognise the Philippines claim on Sabah but Manila nevertheless continues to raise false hopes among their people, he said.
"What is our Federal government doing about this threat to Sabah? " he asked.
No comments:
Post a Comment