SULTANATE OF SULU - A FILIPINO MATTERS TRIBUTE BASIC INFORMATION

Sultanate of Sulu - Bastion of Filipino Muslim resistance against foreign rule

The Sultanate of Sulu, also called the Sultanate of Jolo, is one of the most powerful pre-colonial states in Southeast Asia. At its zenith, it has control over almost all islands from the southwestern tip of Zamboanga Peninsula to the islands farther south reaching Borneo and the island of Palawan to the north.

By aiding the Sultanate of Brunei in suppressing a rebellion, the Sultanate of Sulu received Sabah (North Borneo) and Palawan, as royal gifts. This is the rationale behind the Philippine claim to Sabah, as successor of the Sultanate of Sulu, which it maintained was illegally annexed by Malaysia in 1963 while still technically and legally under lease from the Sultanate.

Accounts have it that the Sultanate was founded by Shari’ful Hashem Syed Abu Bakr, an Arab born in Johore who arrived in Sulu from Malacca in 1450. He claimed to be a descendant of the Saudi House of Hashemite in Hadramaut.

This accounts for the belief by many Tausugs (natives of Sulu) and Yakans (natives of Basilan) that they were descendants of Mohammad through Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr married Param Isuli, a daughter of Raja Baguinda, the ruler of the island and by 1457 established the Sulu Sultanate.

The Sulu Sultanate was the most powerful and organized government in pre-Hispanic Philippines. Its merchant ships maintained commercial ties with Malacca and other sultanates and kingdoms in the region well before the coming of the white men. British, Dutch and German ships had called on the islands of Sulu to barter their goods for mother-of-pearls, tortoise shells and provisions for their naval explorations.

The Sulu Sultanate had long resisted Spanish rule and during Spain’s 300 years of colonizing the Philippines, they remained largely independent. During the centuries-old Moro Wars, the Sultanate devised a well-organized resistance, with Moro warriors conducting daring raids on Spanish fortifications in Visayas and Luzon.

Indeed, in the Sulu Sultanate, Spain encountered one of the greatest challengers to its imperial might.
The Royal Sultanate of Sulu is housed in Astana Putih (“White Palace” in Tausug).

It is located in Indanan, a town not far from Jolo. It is one of the lasting testaments to the greatness that was the Sulu Sultanate- a center of the colorful Filipino Muslim culture and home to a proud, brave and freedom loving people of the South Seas.