American pressure on Sabah

Title

Creator

Tatad, Francisco

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XXI (No. 2) February 1969

Year

1969

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

The weakness of the Philippine stand on Sabah is indicated here

Fulltext

E 1 he weakness of the Philippine stand on Sabah is indicated here. AMERICAN PRESSURE ON SABAH The most welcome, though whispered, news from Ma laysia is that the ailing Radhakrishna Ramani is finally giving up his 35 year-long Malaysian exile, to return to his native Madras, away from the cares of Sabah. Ramani is the man who described the Philippine Sa bah claim a compound of fantasy, fallacy and fiction at the United Nations; the same man who uttered the wittiest, if most sarcastic, re marks at the ill-fated Bang kok talks in which the Phil ippines had to call on the late services of Leon Ma. Guerrero , to make its side better understood in a bila teral discussion in which En glish, rather than Tausog, was the language used. On the eve of the Bang kok negotiations, a much-con cerned foreign office was se riously groping for an idea of what kind of negotiator this Ramani was, and in en thusiastic prose the cable from the Philippine mission to the United Nations said: “Born in Madras, India; educated at University of Madras and received the fol lowing degrees: Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy and En glish); Master of Arts (En glish language and Litera ture); Bachelor of Laws. Was admitted barrister at law of Middle Temple in London in 1929; practised law in Kuala Lumpur from 1930 to 1963 with exception of period 1942-1945 when he practised law in Madras. “Member of legislative council of Federation of Ma laya from 1948 to 1954 and served on numerous legisla tive committees dealing with post-war legislation and other constitutional developments in Federation of Malaya. “President of International Commission of Jurists (Ma laysian branch) and attended international law conferences at New Delhi, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Athens. 8 Panorama “Deputy permanent repre sentative of Malaysia to the United Nations in 1963, be coming its permanent repre sentative in Nov. 1964. As president of the security council in May 1965 he was widely praised for his im pressive forensic ability par ticularly during Dominican Republic crisis. “A strict vegetarian, ailing but extremely intelligent and articulate.” What Ambassador Salvador P. Lopez in the U.N. did not have to add was that Ramani had soaked himself on the Sabah question since 1962 a year before the Malaysia federation was announced, which announcement was to start a 33-month-long border war with Indonesia and a similar duration of abnormal relations with the Philip pines. The “extreme intelligence” of Ramani was to become evident to the Filipino ne gotiators in Bangkok; it did not prevent them from con fessing in their hotel rooms that the man was a full strength demolition squad. At one instance when his cutting words were protested by the Philippine delegation, the Malaysian spokesman ex plained that it was not Ramani’s fault. Ramani, the spokesman explained, had a sharp tongue and a precise language; it was never the knife’s fault if it was sharo. All this serves to illustrate the climate that now prevails at Padre Faura as it is de lightfully whispered that the old vegetarian is returning to his native India. To our diplomats, Ramani’s absence is a better chance for our claim to Sabah — in case another round of talks is held, though that be most unlikely. There may be a thousand and one ways of dispatching such a reaction without much comment; the more pertinent suggestion is that PhilippineMalaysian dialogue, or its ab sence, on Sabah can not re ly over-much on personalities. Yet, in a way, such reaction serves to illustrate that the enthusiasm on the Sabah question is undimmed. There may be a momen tary suggestion that the Sa bah question, let alone the current Philippine-Malaysian troubled relations may now February 1969 9 be shoved aside as a minor problem, the more one talks of future Philippine-American relations and Asian-Ame rican security arrangements. Yet this suggestion misleads. A heavy emphasis on Philippine-American relations does not offer a diversion from the Sabah question; it rati fies rather the need to find a resolution of that question which, in Washington’s eyes, must now impair solidarity in the region. As the Philippines preoc cupies itself with its own anxiety about America’s fu ture role here, and the Pa cific, so may Washington be expected to increase its pres sure on us on this sensitive question. But, whether the adminis tration is as keen to receive that pressure as it is to so licit, it is something which by now it must be able to give an indication of. — Francisco Tatad, Manila Bul letin Dec. 6, 1968. COOPERATION AMONG NATIONS We have begun to realize that while self-help in individual countries is of crucial importance, we can achieve our larger purposes of improving the lives of our peoples through interdependence. Our faith in regional cooperation rests on this axiom — that the economic progress of jfny one country in Southeast Asia will be enhanced by collective regional development efforts. — Ferdinand E. Marcos 10 Panorama

pages

8+

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