MALAYSIA has filed an application to an arbitration court in France to set aside a US$14.92 bil (RM62.59 bil) award to the descendants of the now-defunct Sulu sultanate.
According to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the descendants’ claims were illegitimate and unlawful.
Spanish news website La Información previously reported that Spanish arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa had issued an award of RM62.59 bil in an arbitration court in Paris, France.
The order to pay the claimants was due to the so-called violation of the 1878 agreement pertaining to what is now modern-day Sabah which was signed between Sultan Jamal Al Alam, Baron de Overbeck, and the British North Borneo Company’s Alfred Dent.
“This (the application) is to ensure that the final award cannot be enforced by the claimants at any time and in any country, so that Malaysia does not have to pay the RM62.59 bil claimed,” Ismail Sabri said in a statement.
On Monday (March 14), Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah told the Dewan Rakyat that the final award on the claim of the Sultan of Sulu’s heirs issued in an arbitration proceeding in the Paris Arbitration Court in France did not affect the position of Sabah as a state of the Federation of Malaysia.
Saifuddin said Malaysia have stressed numerous times that it does not recognise or entertain any claim on Sabah which has been recognised by the United Nations (UN) and the international community as among those which established the Federation of Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963.
“It must be emphasised that the Government of Malaysia is not keeping quiet but have taken several measures to stop the claim proceeding,” he said when winding up the debate on the motion of thanks for the royal address for his ministry at the Dewan Rakyat.
Last Thursday (March 10) Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had said that the Government does not recognise the claims and proceedings by the Parisian arbitration court.
This is because the appointment of the arbitrator Dr Gonzalo Stampa has been annulled and is no longer legally valid. – March 18, 2022
