KOTA KINABALU – The state government will ensure Sabah’s rights are intact and all issues are resolved amicably through the Sulawesi Sea Treaty between Malaysia and Indonesia, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor.
He said Sabah is kept in the loop on the latest developments and ongoing negotiations to determine the border and areas in dispute within its maritime boundaries.
“Sabah will honour the treaty, but we also want to ensure Sabah’s rights are intact and all issues are resolved amicably (in the ongoing negotiation),” he said when chairing the State Security Working Committee special meeting at Menara Kinabalu near here today.
The treaty between Malaysia and Indonesia on the delimitation of the territorial seas of the two countries in the Sulawesi Sea signed on June 8 during the visit of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to Malaysia was hotly debated in the last Parliament sitting.
“It has been turned into a political issue and facts have been manipulated,” Hajiji said.
The committee was briefed that the Sulawesi Sea Treaty only touched on the territorial sea border off Pulau Sebatik, not the continental shelf and beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone.
Briefing the State Security Working Committee were Federal Attorney General Foreign Affairs Division head Alfian Yang Amri, Foreign Affairs Ministry Maritime Affairs Department Director-General Datin Paduka Nur Ashikin Mohd Taib, and Survey and Mapping Department Deputy Director Powzy Mohd Som.
Present were State Secretary Datuk Seri Sr Safar Untong, Federal State Secretary Datuk Makhzan Mahyuddin, Special Adviser to the Chief Minister (International Relations) Senator Tan Sri Anifah Aman, Sabah Commissioner of Police Datuk Jauteh Dikun, Fifth Division Commander Major General Datuk Abdul Rahman Wahab, and Sabah Security Director Datuk Noor Alam Khan. – The Vibes, July 6, 2023
