KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will never allow Sabah to be ceded to the Phillippines at any cost despite the relentless attempts of the purported heirs of the Sulu Sultanate.
In February, a French arbitration court ordered Malaysia to pay a whopping US$14.92 billion to the now-defunct Sulu Sultanate claims. This was the second largest arbitration award on record.
However, the Paris Court of Appeal had granted Malaysia a stay order on the matter in July.
Caretaker Minister in Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, in a statement today, dismissed the Paris Award as "unlawful".
He also clarified his parliamentary reply to Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament Chan Foong Hin on Oct 6.
Chan had said that the Sulu Claim was now an issue of national sovereignity and asked whether Wisma Putra has summoned the Philippines ambassador to clarify the country's official stance on the matter.
However, Wan Junaidi stressed that the Paris Award was a result of private claims staked by the Sulu Sultanate heirs and not an official claims laid by the Philippines government.
"Further, when I stated that the Sulu Claim and the purported Paris Award 'tidak ada kena mengena' (not relating to) the question of sovereignty, that statement was in the context of territorial sovereignty – that is whether or not there was a chance that Sabah could ever be handed over to the Philippines.
"Let me say again that this is not possible. Sabah will never be ceded to or come under the control of the Philippines, and the Federal Government stands by and will always defend the integrity of Malaysia's territorial sovereignty.
"The Sulu Claim is an attack on and is an infringement of Malaysia's sovereign and economic interests abroad.
"The Sulu Claimants are using the arbitral process which is a private international law mechanism to attack Malaysia's sovereign interests abroad: this is not only an abuse of process but is, an assault on Malaysia's sovereignty and sovereign interests," he said.