The Kiram family claims ownership over Sabah, which an ancient Sultan had leased to the
British North Borneo Company in 1878.
Despite this arrangement,
British North Borneo Company transferred Sabah to the British colonial rulers, which paved the way for the inclusion of Sabah to the Federation of Malaysia when the latter gained independence from Britain in 1963.
Letters home from North Borneo when he was working for the
British North Borneo Company, 1899-1903.
On his voyage to Hongkong from Marseilles, Rizal met William Pryer, the manager of the
British North Borneo Company, the company that had obtained a longterm lease from the Sultan of Sulo in 1878 to manage the entire island of North Borneo.
But the United Kingdom decided to give up North Borneo, after it was turned over by the
British North Borneo Company to the Federation of Malaysia, in favour of Malaysia's independence.
Jamalul Alam was the sultan who signed the 1878 agreement to lease Sabah to the
British North Borneo Company. According to documents furnished the Inquirer, Badaruddin's representatives have been trying to get President Aquino to recognize him as the real sultan of Sulu since July 25, 2012.
Overbeck later sold out all his rights under the contract to Alfred Dent, an English merchant, who established a provisional association and later a company, known as the
British North Borneo Company, which assumed all the rights and obligations under the 1878 contract.
He alleges that his forebears leased the property to the
British North Borneo Company, which in turn ceded its leasehold rights to Malaysia.
Much of the eastern part of Sabah is being claimed by the Philippines as part of the Sultanate of Sulu that was leased to the
British North Borneo Company in 1878.