Pirates & Sea Gypsies – Semporna Island Hopping
Just before coming to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah and starting my trip in Borneo, I was traveling in the Philippines. I was surprised that there is no simple ferry connection between Palawan in the Philippines and the north-east of Sabah, which in straight line are within 50 km distance. Instead, I had to fly to Manila and transfer to Kota Kinabalu, which didn’t make any sense for me in terms of carbon footprint I produce as well as money and time I have to spend. I started to dig in information why there is no ferry connecting Palawan and Sabah, even though it makes a perfect logistical and touristic sense.
This is how I learnt about the conflict between those two lands, which is connected with issues of piracy in Sabah. Some time ago, the east part of Sabah belonged to the Philippines, before to the Sultanate of Sulu. The pirates often calling themselves the “Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo”. Obviously, they don’t accept their country is gone from the map of Borneo.
In 2013 there was a big conflict when 235 militants arrived by boats from Simunul and Tawi Tawi islands, on the south-est of the Philippines. They surrounded a village near Lahad Datu and wanted to resolve the territorial claim of East of Sabah. One local man told me that they had almost succeded taking over as the military and police of Malaysia couldn’t decide who will deal with the intruders. I prefer to belive this information is not true. Anyhow, the negotiations finished with death of over 60 people and sending pirates back to where they came from, leaving few claimants to the throne of the sultanate unfulfilled.
