THE Dummy Strikes Again
1. Everyone was laughing at the Locsin’s Twitter indiscretion that gave Malaysia a chance to break ranks with ASEAN to refute his groundless Sabah claim — which of course benefits China (viz a viz South China Sea claims by the Philippines). Keeping in mind that in Feb 2019, Germany summoned the Philippines' ambassador to Berlin after Locsin's "extremely offensive comments" on the microblogging platform and in interviews defending Duterte's statements likening himself to Hitler in the conduct of the deadly drug war.
2. Weaker ASEAN member-states, like the Philippines, cannot afford division (as China continues its aggressive behavior in the South China Sea). On 29 Aug 2020, speech Duterte said that the 2021 defence allocation is intended to “address threats and combat terrorism”, a reference to the country’s two-pronged security challenge to protect territory in the South China Sea and tackle internal insurgency. Let me add points:
3. Locsin’s Twitter remarks prompted Malaysia to summon the Philippine ambassador, and Malaysia issuing a note verbale in Aug 2020 (submitted before the United Nations) that it “categorically rejects” the excessive maritime claims arising from the Philippines’ claims over the Kalayaan Island Group (Spratlys) and also set out the valid grounds on why it disapproved Philippines' claim to Sabah.
4. There is still opportunity for Locsin THE Dummy to reel it back in. If Locsin continues, it has the possibility of straining ties but realistically, unless thoughtless military action or sanctions follows loose lips, the Philippines and Malaysia should be able to settle this. Even Duterte knows there is virtue in silence about Sabah. In his first meeting with Mahathir in July 2018, the thorny topic wasn’t even on the leaders’ agenda, despite Duterte vowing to pursue the claim as a campaign promise.
5. But it is sad to see Locsin so being stupid once again. In raising the Sabah issue on Twitter, Locsin not only publicly corrected the country's defense ally on an unofficial channel but also revived a dormant territorial and historical claim of the Philippines over the Malaysian state in the northern part of Borneo. To double down on stupid, the Philippines is reportedly planning to revive the Office of North Borneo Affairs in its Department of Foreign Affairs dedicated to efforts to reclaim Sabah. Pinoy Foreign Secretary Locsin claims that it had been receiving foreign campaign funds or bribes over the years to drop the claim.
6. The late ambassador Rodolfo Severino, in his book Where in the World is the Philippines?, said that while the Sabah dispute “has long receded into irrelevance,” Philippine leaders “have found it politically impossible to drop the Philippine claim to Sabah altogether.”
7. Dictator Ferdinand Marcos tried to drop this claim in August 1977. In a regional summit, Marcos declared that the Philippines is “taking definite steps to eliminate one of the burdens of ASEAN – the claim of the Philippine Republic to Sabah.” Severino, however, wrote: “As it turned out, neither Marcos nor any of his successors managed to take those ‘definite steps’ to abandon the claim to Sabah, at least not in terms acceptable to Malaysia. The political pressures to do so were just not enough; the pressures not to do so were too great.”
1. Everyone was laughing at the Locsin’s Twitter indiscretion that gave Malaysia a chance to break ranks with ASEAN to refute his groundless Sabah claim — which of course benefits China (viz a viz South China Sea claims by the Philippines). Keeping in mind that in Feb 2019, Germany summoned the Philippines' ambassador to Berlin after Locsin's "extremely offensive comments" on the microblogging platform and in interviews defending Duterte's statements likening himself to Hitler in the conduct of the deadly drug war.
2. Weaker ASEAN member-states, like the Philippines, cannot afford division (as China continues its aggressive behavior in the South China Sea). On 29 Aug 2020, speech Duterte said that the 2021 defence allocation is intended to “address threats and combat terrorism”, a reference to the country’s two-pronged security challenge to protect territory in the South China Sea and tackle internal insurgency. Let me add points:
(a) Without a united ASEAN that can balance the two powers, tensions between the US and China in the region may more adversely affect the Philippines, as it has a Navy that is armed like a coast guard.
(b) With a grossly inadequate 2021 defence budget of PHP209.1 billion (USD4.3 billion) in 2021 (which represents a rise of 11% over the original allocation for 2020) — of which only PHP33 billion is allotted for military procurement (in recent years this funding programme has received PHP25 billion a year). But if you look at monies allocated for 2021 military procurement, it is grossly inadequate to meet threats.
(c) The Philippine Navy is so poorly funded that they still lack anti-ship missiles; and could not participate in the SINKEX part of RIMPAC 2020. They sent the BRP Jose Rizal for RIMPAC 2020 but their crew was fully not trained on surface warfare tactics, as they did not have the required anti-ship missiles to take part in the said weapons firing activity.
3. Locsin’s Twitter remarks prompted Malaysia to summon the Philippine ambassador, and Malaysia issuing a note verbale in Aug 2020 (submitted before the United Nations) that it “categorically rejects” the excessive maritime claims arising from the Philippines’ claims over the Kalayaan Island Group (Spratlys) and also set out the valid grounds on why it disapproved Philippines' claim to Sabah.
4. There is still opportunity for Locsin THE Dummy to reel it back in. If Locsin continues, it has the possibility of straining ties but realistically, unless thoughtless military action or sanctions follows loose lips, the Philippines and Malaysia should be able to settle this. Even Duterte knows there is virtue in silence about Sabah. In his first meeting with Mahathir in July 2018, the thorny topic wasn’t even on the leaders’ agenda, despite Duterte vowing to pursue the claim as a campaign promise.
5. But it is sad to see Locsin so being stupid once again. In raising the Sabah issue on Twitter, Locsin not only publicly corrected the country's defense ally on an unofficial channel but also revived a dormant territorial and historical claim of the Philippines over the Malaysian state in the northern part of Borneo. To double down on stupid, the Philippines is reportedly planning to revive the Office of North Borneo Affairs in its Department of Foreign Affairs dedicated to efforts to reclaim Sabah. Pinoy Foreign Secretary Locsin claims that it had been receiving foreign campaign funds or bribes over the years to drop the claim.
6. The late ambassador Rodolfo Severino, in his book Where in the World is the Philippines?, said that while the Sabah dispute “has long receded into irrelevance,” Philippine leaders “have found it politically impossible to drop the Philippine claim to Sabah altogether.”
7. Dictator Ferdinand Marcos tried to drop this claim in August 1977. In a regional summit, Marcos declared that the Philippines is “taking definite steps to eliminate one of the burdens of ASEAN – the claim of the Philippine Republic to Sabah.” Severino, however, wrote: “As it turned out, neither Marcos nor any of his successors managed to take those ‘definite steps’ to abandon the claim to Sabah, at least not in terms acceptable to Malaysia. The political pressures to do so were just not enough; the pressures not to do so were too great.”
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