2013 Lahad Datu standoff

The 2013 Lahad Datu standoff, also known as the Lahad Datu incursion or Operation Daulat (Malay: Operasi Daulat), was a military conflict in Lahad Datu, Malaysia. The conflict began on 11 February, when 235 militants arrived in Lahad Datu by boat, and ended on 24 March. The militants, self proclaimed as "Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo", were sent by a claimant to the throne of the Sultanate of Sulu.

The militants' stated objective was to assert the territorial claim of the Philippines to eastern Sabah. Malaysian security forces surrounded the village where the group had gathered. After weeks of negotiations and several deadlines for the group to withdraw, the killing of local policemen prompted Malaysian security forces to flush out the militants with a military operation. At the end of the standoff around 72 people were left dead, including 56 militants, 10 Malaysian security force personnel, and 6 civilians. The surviving militants were all either captured or escaped.

The Lahad Datu incursion has had lasting impacts for the people of Sabah. Before this incursion, the government of Malaysia continued to dutifully pay an annual cession payment amounting to roughly $1,000 to the indirect heirs of the Sultan honoring an 1878 agreement, where North Borneo – today’s Sabah – was conceded by the late Sultan of Sulu to a British company. However, Malaysia suspended these payments in response to this attack that killed civilians and members of the Malaysian armed force. Years later, eight of these Sulu heirs, who insisted they were not involved in the standoff, hired lawyers to pursue legal action based on the original commercial deal. The case is still ongoing.