Kiram kin in Sabah: We're not here to make war

MANILA, Philippines - The brother of Sabah claimant Sultan Jamalul Kiram III on Thursday said the royal army members in Lahad Datu are not defying any law since they are merely trying to live in their own place.

"We are not bad, we are good people. We are law abiding citizen. We came here to live in our place. That's not a crime," Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram said in a radio interview.

Jamalul sent his brother last February 12 to Lahad Datu together with his army to claim Sabah as their own. The group has defied orders from both the Malaysian and Philippine governments to leave.

Agbimuddin said the Malaysian security forces have not yet attacked them, but added that they are prepared to defend themselves in case the troops do.

"We did not come to make war, we just came to live in our own place. If the problem is we bring guns with us, these are for our protection," he said.

Responding to reports that the Department of Justice is studying the possibility of filing criminal cases against them, he said the government should instead sue armed groups that violate the election gun ban, as their group came to Sabah not to start a war but to live in their place.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas earlier said the ongoing standoff will affect the lives of 800,000 Filipinos based in Sabah, something the royal army members disagree with.

The Department of Justice had said that members of the royal army who went to Sabah with their firearms may face charges.

On Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto del Rosario said that the government has asked for "several days" of extension for the sultanate's army to leave Lahad Datu.

The deadline set by the Malaysian government for Kiram's followers to leave Sabah lapsed on Tuesday midnight.