Nasionalisme dan Perubahan Polisi Tuntutan Filipina ke atas Sabah Daripada Irredentisme Kepada Tuntutan Dorman, 1962–1998

The policy of the Philippines’ claim to Sabah is significantly influenced by the development of the Philippines’ internal politics and the ideology supported by its presidents. During the regimes of President Macapagal and President Marcos, the Philippines’ foreign policy towards Sabah was fundamentally influenced by the irredentism policy in order to claim that region. The claim over Sabah became the Philippines’ national agenda that was previously confined to the territorial issue of the Sulu Sultanate. The changes that transpired in the people’s struggle, especially since the administrations of Corazon Aquino and Fidel V. Ramos, have brought to life the new idea that true nationalism is based on the “people’s interests” as expressed in the People’s Power Revolution. Both presidents later changed the Philippines’ policy towards Sabah to a dormant claim after all efforts made to drop the claim to Sabah met with failure. Thus, this article aims to assess the continuity and changes of the Philippine claim policy on Sabah and the impact of the idea of nationalism on the formation of the policy since the administration of President Macapagal until that of President Fidel V. Ramos.