MALAYSIA said yesterday (Sept 30) it will challenge a move by the heirs of a Southeast Asian sultan to seize its Dutch assets as part of the descendents’ efforts to enforce a $15 bil (RM69.6 mil) arbitration award against the Malaysian state.
The heirs of the former Sulu sultan on Thursday (Sept 29) asked a Dutch court for permission to seize Malaysian assets in the Netherlands, where some of Malaysia’s biggest companies have operations – including state oil firm Petronas.
The heirs are targeting Malaysian assets overseas following the Government’s refusal to recognise the arbitration award by a French court in February, which found Malaysia had reneged on an 1878 land leasing agreement.
The deal was signed between two European colonists and the sultan for the use of his territory, some of which were later incorporated into modern-day Malaysia.
Malaysia honoured that deal until 2013, paying the monarch’s descendants about $1,000 (RM4,637) a year. But Putrajaya stopped the payments after a bloody incursion by supporters of the former sultanate who wanted to reclaim the land.
In the current dispute, Malaysia has said it does not recognise the heirs’ claim and that the arbitration, in which it did not participate, was illegal.
Malaysia obtained a stay on the ruling pending an appeal but the award remains enforceable outside France under a UN treaty on international arbitration.
“Malaysia will spare no expense in defending its sovereignty and its assets abroad wherever they may be situated,” Law Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said in a statement.
“We will resist”
He said Malaysia would take legal action in the Netherlands to “resist and set aside” any attempt to seize assets, and that the country has initiated a global strategy to proactively challenge other possible seizure bids.
Wan Junaidi added that even though Petronas’ assets were not assets of the Government, it would be an “abuse of the process of any court” to seek enforcement against them.
The Government is the sole shareholder of Petronas and collects an annual dividend from the oil firm.
Petronas did not have an immediate comment on the Government statement. It has not commented on the heirs’ court petition in the Netherlands either.
A spokesperson for the heirs told Reuters they were surprised by Wan Junaidi’s statement on Petronas’ assets.
“Given the Malaysian Government claims to no longer own Petronas, I imagine Malaysians would be curious as to who currently does,” the spokesperson said.
In July, two Luxembourg-based subsidiaries of Petronas were seized by court bailiffs as part of the heirs’ effort to claim the award.
Petronas previously described the Luxembourg seizure as “baseless” and vowed to defend its global assets. – Oct 1, 2022
Main photo credit: Rappler
