THERE are three reasons why Malaysia needs to fight this legal farce that verges neo-colonial conspiracy of the worst kind. While more can listed, it suffices to name just three.
Firstly, who really is the true heir of the Qiram family? If it is a royal family, with a single bloodline succession, perhaps the Qiram family may ostensibly have some locus standi to press the claims of US$15 bil against Petronas.
But if the Qiram family has many offshoots of no clear family tree, other than sharing the namesake of Qiram, then what rights do they possess over anything that is extracted from Sabah? None!
Second, regardless of who is who, the Qiram family is not a united and cohesive entity. That is the key point. Whether Malaysia kept paying an annual lease of RM5,300 from 1878 until 2013 is not tantamount to acknowledging their sovereignty.
For example, each year, Malaysia pays a membership of US$2 mil to the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta too, just like the rest of the ten member states. Does that mean Malaysia can intervene in the affairs of Singapore just because the ten member states have pledged to be a single ASEAN community by 2025? Again, the answer is in the negative.
Thirdly, the very fact that they needed 144 years to bankroll their claim against Petronas, backed by a legal vulture named Thereum, only suggests one thing; that the Qiram family was merely taking a wild jab in the dark based on sheer legal sophistry, not facts.
For the lack of a better word, this was clearly a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was actually doing. Little wonder then when the verdict in favour of the supposed legal claim of the Qiram family was announced by the French arbitration court, an immediate stay of judgement was automatically granted to Petronas the following day.
While the New York Convention on Arbitration forms part of international law, where it does allow the case that was originally heard, then spurned in Spain, to be heard in the arbitration chamber of France?
Granted that the issue in contention was the 1878 lease granted by the Sultan of Qiram to the North Borneo British Company, why didn’t the Thereum that is backing the Qiram’s family claim display the temerity to file the legal charges in London?
Were they afraid that the statute of limitations on the lease have long expired?
To be sure, Thereum is a company, not even a proper law firm proper, backing a spurious legal claim with the goal of scoring one of the firm’s largest financial windfalls ever. It is a financial predator that embraces the ethics of Wall Street; greed is good.
Such entities thrive on ambiguities of any laws. From reputational damage, without any iota of proofs to supposed libel that has jeopardized the livelihood of the accused. You name them, you have them.
Is it any wonder — again — that Thereum is an entity without any official presence in Kuala Lumpur at all, let alone Sulu, the very client it seeks to back.
Hidden hands behind the Qiram?
Indeed, granted that the Philippines is a republic, ruled by a President, with various theoretical divisions of power, it boggles the mind how a presidential and congressional system, with the southern Mindanao being granted a self-autonomous status, can provide the legal status to the Qiram family in Sulu when the whole of Mindanao is what the Philippines has sought to claim since the 16th century.
For what is worth, the legal eagles in Petronas should not be resting on their laurels. The same applies to the Attorney General’s Chambers, Research Department and the Special Branch. Truly, someone is trying to stir the proverbial pot in Sabah.
Whatever their sinister goal is, Malaysia must take up this case seriously with the right legal competencies to protect and preserve our sovereignty.
Thus, all these agencies, especially the Government and Opposition alike, should be closely watch how the Qiram family has been manipulated to enlarge its global arbitrate claims.
The key of their strategy seems to be to cut Petronas to size before the “Crown Jewel of Malaysia” can launch any counter attack.
Sometimes defence is not necessarily the best offense, especially when the opposite side is supported by a spurious and amorphous entity. – July 19, 2022
Dr Rais Hussin is the President and CEO at EMIR Research, an independent think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main photo credit: The Sun Daily
