evidence: The Philippines claims much of eastern Sabah.[49][65][164] It claims that the territory is connected with the Sultanate of Sulu and was only leased to the North Borneo Chartered Company in 1878 with the Sultanate's sovereignty never being relinquished.[113] Malaysia however, considers this dispute as a "non-issue", as it interprets the 1878 agreement as that of cession and that it deems that the residents of Sabah had exercised their right to self-determination when they joined to form the Malaysian federation in 1963.[165] A group of 200 armed Filipinos identifying themselves as the Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo landed in the district of Lahad Datu and took control of the Tanduo village in 2013, with the objective of reinforcing the Philippine claim over the eastern region of Sabah.[166] This Lahad Datu incident resulted in the deaths of 52 members of the Sulu group and eight Malaysian police officers.[167] [...] - ^ a b c d e Mohammad Al-Mahdi Tan Kho; Hurng-yu Chen (July 2014). "Malaysia-Philippines Territorial Dispute: The Sabah Case" (PDF). National Chengchi University. NCCU Institutional Repository. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.