[UPDATED] Govt looking into Sulu heirs’ possible militant links

KUALA LUMPUR – The government is conducting checks on the possible affiliation between the eight Sulu sultanate heirs making claims against the country and the Royal Sulu Forces (RSF) militants who have been sentenced in court over the Lahad Datu incursion in Sabah.

In a statement, the government’s Special Sulu Secretariat said it is reviewing all options available in defending the country's sovereignty against those claiming to be the heirs.

“The RSF has been declared a terrorist group by the Malaysian government since April 2022,” the secretariat said.

“The legal actions that have been taken by the claimants to date, especially the commercial arbitration, are not justifiable in terms of legislation, and have even directly challenged the country’s sovereignty.

“Any action taken by the claimants through commercial arbitration at present is considered mala fide, given that the Sulu party in 1939 had faced the North Borneo High Court over a dispute that arose at that time.”

The purported heirs have sued Malaysia for ceasing the annual payment of RM5,300 in fees for Sabah, which they claim as their territory. The payments were stopped in 2013 after the Lahad Datu invasion.

The purported heirs had also made claims on two Luxembourg-based subsidiaries of Petronas in July last year after the attachment order on the arbitral awards was granted.

Their claims on Petronas’ assets were part of their legal efforts to get compensation for land in Sabah that the Sulu sultan had ceded to the British under an agreement that would see a sum of money paid to the sultan annually.

Last week, the secretariat said Malaysia will summon the purported heirs to court over their attempts to “seize” the Malaysian embassy building in France.

In the statement today, the secretariat insisted the claimant’s claims are invalid, nullified, and terminated self-determination exercise carried out by the people of Sabah through the consultation of the Cobbold Commission in 1962, as well as the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963.

“The 1878 agreement, which has been used as the basis for the arbitration carried out in Spain and France, does not have any arbitration clause and is not a commercial contract,” it said.

“The dispute arising here involves national sovereignty, and Malaysia has never at any time waived its sovereign immunity; the arbitrator has no authority to resolve the matter brought by the claimant.”

“The Malaysian government will not compromise on its national sovereignty and security.” – The Vibes, March 14, 2023