Jamalul Kiram III may deny his actions in giving orders to Sulu terrorists to enter Lahad Datu, Sabah led by his brother, Azzumudie Kiram which would just give him more advantage to become the next legitimate Sultan Sulu.
Especially when the matter of who becomes the next Sultan Sulu gets complicated as there are 9 individuals claiming themselves as Sultan Sulu. Jamalul Kiram III and his brother Esmail Kiram II are few of the individuals, both citizens of Philippine.
With support from MNLF members led by Nur Misuari which has close ties with him, which might just give the advantage for Jamalul Kiram to declare himself as the real Sultan Sulu, denying the other eight.
However, Jamalul Kiram and his followers thought wrong because without them realizing, people of Sulu and Sabah are raged with him and his descendants.
Majority Sulu Sabahan refuse to support Jamalul Kiram’s personal desire to be taken as Sultan Sulu, especially when the invasion is giving negative image towards Sulu Sabahans.
The loyalty shown by Sabahan Sulu can be seen when a group of its youth captured and killed one of Jamalul Kiram’s followers who was armed with an M16 in Semporna recently.
Most Sulu people from both Malaysia and Philippine share the same thought that Jamalul Kiram III and his family are no longer in the race of becoming the next Sultan Sulu.
Sulu people will never forget their dark history where their people were massacred by American army in the 1900s after getting blessings from Sultan Kiram II (1884-1936).
The tragedy which happened in Bud Dahu on March 1906, followed by the same massacre in December 1911 as well as the battle in Bud Bagsak, on June 1913 where all three had cost 4,000 casualties among Sulu people.
Probably thanks to the traits he may have gotten from his family, that is why it is not surprising why Jamalul Kiram III decided to ask for intervention from America and the UN as his mission to conquer Sabah is failing.
For most Sulu people, they think that Jamalul Kiram do not deserve to be their leader. To them, they will never accept the descendants of a leader who led to the massacre of their own people.
The dark past in Bud Dahu and Bud Bagsak, Jolo, Sulu will remain in the minds of Sulu people, and it will always haunt Jamalul Kiram III. His dreams of being declared as Sultan Sulu might never come true, instead, it will always haunt him until the day he dies.
