The Sulu Sea region, long a remote buffer zone between competing political entities, exhibits all the characteristics of the kind of “ungoverned territory” in which trafficking thrives. The Sulu Arms Market's unique longevity stretches back to colonial times, but like most other illicit arms markets, it is both a source and a destination for grey and black market arms. Like most black arms pipelines around the world, the Sulu Arms Market is intertwined with piracy, terrorism, and the traffic of other illicit commodities. Moro independence groups, communists, Islamic militants, and criminal gangs are all major players in the market. Four bilateral anti-smuggling agreements between Malaysia and the Philippines, and a number of regional multilateral initiatives since the formation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967 reflect the fact that the Sulu Arms Market is a potential security problem for Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore.

Colonial History

The Sulu archipelago connects the Philippine island of Mindanao to Borneo, both culturally and geographically. Traders have plied its warm waters for centuries, moving goods back and forth using familial networks in what was once a borderless society. The Spanish were the first to draw an administrative line between Mindanao and Borneo, a delineation they enforced only intermittently depending on their political and military fortunes in the rest of the Philippines. The ebb and flow of Spanish sovereignty in the area inevitably invited the attention of other colonial powers.

Caught between the competing interests of the Spanish, Germans, and British, the leaders of Sulu depended upon intrigue to protect its sovereignty from rival tribes and the Europeans. The sultans of Sulu struck a delicate balance between the heavy-handed Spanish and their European rivals based in Sabah. Spanish failure to come to an understanding with Sulu led to intermittent warfare that severely affected English and German trade in the area.