The arbitration proceedings by the so-called heirs of the Sulu sultanate, as a whole, is null and void given the absence of any intention between the contracting parties to arbitrate their disputes in the 1878 Agreement, said Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) said it is evident that the 1878 Agreement, at most, denotes a dispute resolution provision signalling the parties’ mutual consent to appoint an independent third party to resolve any disputes and differences.
“As we all know, arbitration, akin to other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, requires unequivocal, express and mutual consent of both contracting parties to adopt the same.