International Law, History & Policy - Centre for International Law

Singapore in the Early Years 27
under a government subservient to Indonesia. His first object
was to separate Sarawak and North Borneo from Malaysia
based on Nasution’s theories of guerrilla warfare. He would
alternate military and political pressures, before switching to
simultaneous military and political pressures. After raising the
political pressure until Malaysia reacted, he would then lower
it to the accompaniment of loud protestations of his ‘peaceful’
intent. 52
The Philippines Claim on Sabah 53
The Philippines’ claim on the territory of Sabah was based on
Sabah’s links to the Sulu Sultanate. In 1877, Baron Gustavus von
Overbeck, an Austrian, and his British partner, Alfred Dent,
concluded treaties with the Sultan of Brunei under which the
Sultan ceded substantial parts of Sabah to them. Overbeck and
Dent were then heading the British North Borneo Provisional
Association, which eventually became the British North Borneo
Company. At this time, the Sultan of Sulu also laid claim to the
same territory, arguing that the Sultan of Brunei had ceded it to
his ancestor back in 1704 as a reward for helping the latter quell
a rebellion. To ensure the sanctity of the cession, Overbeck and
Dent concluded an Agreement with the Sultan of Sulu in 1878
under which the Sultan, in turn, ceded the territory to them. In
1881, the British Government issued a Charter to establish the
British North Borneo Company, which succeeded to all previous
grants and commissions of the British North Borneo Provisional
Association, including its sovereign control over Sabah.
52 See Harold James & Denis Sheil-Small, The Undeclared War: The Story
of the Indonesian Confrontation 1962-1966 (Singapore: Asia Pacific
Press, 1971) at p 56.
53 See S Jayakumar, ‘The Philippine Claim to Sabah and International
Law’ (1968) 10 Malaya Law Review 306-335.