RM62.5 bil award to heirs of Sulu Sultanate will go nowhere, says former Sabah CM

KOTA KINABALU – The so-called RM62.5 billion award to the heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu from a foreign arbitrator against the Malaysian government will go nowhere, said Sabah Progressive Party president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee, today.

The former Sabah chief minister said the foreign court ruling was a one-sided affair with no basis and legal effect, similarly the tribunal hearing brought by the Philippines against China on claims to the South China Sea.

“What is of concern is that the news of the RM62.5 billion award will embolden some elements of the descendants of the defunct Kiram Sultanate to create disturbances in Sabah.

“Illegal immigrants from the Philippines will also feel a sense of legitimacy to remain in Sabah, hence making it more difficult for Malaysian authorities to deport them.

“At the same time, the lure of this illusory RM62.5 billion will intensify the conflicts among the 50 plus Sulu claimants who claim to be the heir of the Kiram family,” said Yong in a statement here today.

Yong, who is also an appointed assemblyman in the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah alliance, said after the death of the last Sulu Sultan in the 1930s, the monarch was left without a male heir, prompting the Philippines to declare the Sulu Sultanate has ended.

He said it was this that led to the court case of Dayang-Dayang (Daughters of Kiram) against the government of North Borneo and others at the court in Sandakan in 1939.

“Another consequence of this “award”, he said, is that the Philippine government will want to prevent the Kiram family from laying hands on this mouth-watering sum of RM62.5 billion.

“Imagine how much more trouble the recipients of RM62.5 billion can cause to the Philippine government,” he said.

Yong said it would be wise for the Philippines to remind the Sulu heirs that it was the Kiram family who had already irrevocably abrogated their rights and interests over Sabah when the Philippine government wanted to pursue the Sabah claim under the international law in 1962, before the formation of Malaysia.

“So, if the Kiram descendants want to claim, they should claim against their own Philippine government.

“And if the Philippines now were to take up the Sabah claim, that itself will be another exercise in futility because the Philippines had already bungled their legal case in 2001.

“This was because the Philippines’ attempt to revive their Sabah claim was thrown out by the International Court of Justice (World Court) in a judgement on October 23, 2001.

“Earlier in 2001, the Philippines had tried to intervene in the ICJ case between Indonesia and Malaysia who had (in 1998) submitted their respective claims over Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan,” he said.

On another note, Yong also questioned those behind the arbitration, saying the Kiram family does not have the resources to mount such an international legal effort.

“Who paid the legal fees and costs of the arbitration case that had been done to Spain and France?

“As every lawyer knows, legal fees and costs in Europe can cost millions of ringgit. Who is paying for the fees and costs?” he questioned.

Yong said the Malaysian government needs to find out who footed the legal bills for the Sulu Sultanate heirs, adding that he had actually sought answers for this in 2020, but received no response.

“I now urge both the federal and Sabah governments to fervently and seriously commit to a well-planned campaign to counter the political and security implications of the Philippines/Sulu claim to Sabah, including the latest so-called RM62.5 billion award,” he added. – The Vibes, March 2, 2022