Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III : “I’m the poorest sultan in the world,” the ailing Kiram, 74, told The Associated Press in an interview at his residence in Maharlika village in Taguig City.
At his Maharlika village home, the sultan, who has failed kidneys and a heart ailment, struggled with slurred speech to proudly recount the saga of his clan’s empire based in the Sulu archipelago in the southern Philippines. Chinese and European leaders, he said, once sent vassals to pay homage to his powerful forebears. The Sulu sultanate, which emerged in the 1400s, preceded both the Philippine republic and Malaysia by centuries.
The exploits of the sultanate’s native Tausug warriors were so legendary, the Brunei sultan at the time sought their help in putting down a rebellion in the 1600-1700s. When the uprising was crushed, the Brunei sultan handed over Sabah – then part of Brunei – to his Sulu counterpart as a gift of gratitude.
A Filipino sultan later leased Sabah to a British colonial-era company. The territory was later annexed by Britain. In 1963, six years after colonial Malaya gained independence, Sabah voted to join the new Malaysia.
The Sulu sultanate had steadily declined through the centuries, its power passed on to a succession of leaders and heirs. Jamalul Kiram III is the 33rd sultan and a symbolic leader with followers in Sulu and nearby southern provinces, which are among the country’s poorest and are troubled by Muslim rebels, al-Qaeda-linked extremists and outlaws.
Born in Sulu’s far-flung Maimbung town in 1938, Kiram is a beloved leader who in his youth turned to dance and singing and played sports, including his favorite, tennis. He once worked as a disc jockey in a Jolo radio station. He took up law but failed to take the bar exams when he joined a prominent cultural dance group in the 1960s, according to his wife, Fatima Celia.
He also ran for senator in 2007, backed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo – a tacit recognition of his sultanate leadership – but lost, leaving his family in debt due to the high campaign expenses, she said.
Last year, the sultan was diagnosed with failed kidneys and began to receive dialysis treatment, causing family members to miss out on monthly payments for their house, which they nearly lost had friends not helped out, Celia said.
Since then, Kiram has mostly been sidelined to his bedroom, which resembles a hospital unit with two oxygen tanks and serves as an office where he met visitors and followers seeking all sorts of help.
In his younger years, Kiram said he traveled often to Sabah. “It’s really very rich,” he said of Sabah. “When I’m in Sabah, I feel at home.”
Sabah and Sulu are separated by a narrow strip of the Sulu Sea that at its shortest span can be traversed by boat in 30 minutes. The two provinces have shared traditional ties, and people, who are of the same ethnic stock, frequently travel back and forth.
Some 800,000 Filipinos, mostly Muslims, have settled in Sabah over the years to seek work and stability.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/03/08/917097/kiram-im-poorest-sultan-world