KOTA BARU: The government will hold a roadshow overseas to explain the Sulu sultanate's claims against Sabah and Malaysia.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today said the roadshow was expected to be conducted by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
"This is to explain to the world and certain countries that the Sulu group is not only categorised as smugglers or intruders, but also as terrorists.
"This terrorist group is now serving a jail sentence after going through the court process."
He said this after attending the Ramah Mesra programme with Kelantan Community Development Department (Kemas) staff here.
Zahid the roadshow was to avoid the perception that Malaysia had done an injustice to the group.
Azalina recently said the government was investigating whether there were Malaysians who had been helping the so-called heirs to the defunct Sulu sultanate in their claims against Sabah and Malaysia.
She said there was a possibility of insiders aiding the heirs, considering the fact that they had been making non-stop claims against the country overseas.
She said this when asked to explain what sort of efforts were being made to deal with the Sulu group, who seemed to be getting bolder in filing claims in international arbitration courts.
The arbitration claims were made by the so-called heirs, years after Malaysia stopped making annual payments of RM5,300 to them in 2013.
The payments were stopped after the self-declared Sulu sultan launched an armed intrusion in Lahad Datu, Sabah.
On Feb 28, 2022, the arbitrator appointed by the claimants, Dr Gonzalo Stampa of Spain, awarded them US$14.92 billion.
Stampa had made the award in French courts despite the fact that the Spanish courts had thrown out his appointment earlier.
Later, the French courts suspended the award, meaning it cannot be enforced anywhere in the world, until they looked further into the case.
Despite this, the claimants managed to seize two Petronas assets in Azerbaijan in July 2022.
Malaysia, however, has since set aside the French court's decision.
Azalina is expected to soon fly to Europe to gather information on the issue as the claimants are pursuing attempts to seize Malaysian assets there.