Former Sabah CM says RM62.5bil award by Paris court will go nowhere

KOTA KINABALU: The RM62.5bil award to the heirs of the defunct Sulu Sultanate by a Paris Arbitration Court is not going to hold any water, says former chief minister Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee (pic).

"It is completely superfluous in law and will get nowhere," he said, adding that the arbitration ruling was a one-sided affair in a foreign country which had no basis and will have no legal effect.

"It is just like the one-sided tribunal hearing brought by the Philippine government against China over the South China Sea matter," Yong said Wednesday (March 2).

However, Yong said that there was some concern over the award as it could embolden some elements of the descendants of the Sulu (Kiram) Sultanate to create disturbances in Sabah.

"Illegal immigrants from the Philippines will also feel a sense of legitimacy to remain in Sabah, hence making it more difficult for Malaysian authorities to deport them," said Yong, the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president.

He also said that there were about 50 Sulu claimants who currently claim to be rightful heirs to the Kiram family, whose last Sultan died without a male heir in the 1930s.

Manila had subsequently declared the end of the Sulu Sultanate.

"The lure of this illusory RM62.5 billion will intensify the conflicts among the 50-plus Sulu claimants," Yong said observing that nine of self-appointed heirs made the application in Paris.

"Another consequence of this 'award' is that the Philippines government will want to prevent the Kiram family from laying hands on this mouth-watering sum of RM62.5bil.

"Imagine how much more trouble the recipients of RM62.5bil can cause to the Philippines government?" he asked, adding that the Kiram family had abrogated their rights to Manila in 1962 ahead of the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

The family had wanted the Philippines government to pursue the Sabah claim under international law, in the prelude to the formation of Malaysia (in 1963).

"So, if the Kiram descendants want to claim, they should claim against their own Philippine government," he said, also adding that Manila's attempt to revive the Sabah claim by intervening in Indonesia and Malaysia's dispute over Pulau Sipadan and Pulau Ligitan was thrown out by the International Court Justice in 2001.

Yong, however, felt that the Malaysian government must investigate who financed the cash-strapped Kiram family to pay the legal fees and costs of arbitration for their case in Spain and France.

" As every lawyer knows, legal fees and costs in Europe can amount to millions of ringgit. Who is paying for the fees and costs?

"The Kiram family do not have the financial resources to mount such an international legal effort," he said

"Once we know the identity of the financiers of the legal fees and costs, we will have the identity of the culprits who are pushing the poor Kiram descendants to pursue their Sabah claim," he added.

He said both the Federal and Sabah governments should seriously commit to a consistent, well-planned campaign to counter the political and security implications of the Philippines/Sulu claim to Sabah, including the latest so-called RM62.5bil award.