Sabah AG should reconsider proposal on Sulu legal repository, says Yong

KOTA KINABALU: It was wrong of Sabah Attorney General Datuk Nor Asiah Mohd Yusof to quickly brush aside a suggestion to set up a repository of documents and historical facts about the Philippines/Sulu claim to Sabah.

Former chief minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee said there might come a time when the Federal Government would require the state government's help providing such historical data during the arbitration process.

The proposal for the repository came up during a Sabah Law Society (SLS) webinar, in which Yong also took part.

The webinar participants noted that information on the claim was not organised and spread among disparate individuals.

Nor Asiah, responding to the suggestion, said claims by the self-proclaimed heirs of the defunct Sulu sultanate were being handled by the Federal Government through the Attorney General’s Chambers and Foreign Affairs Ministry.

"As lawyers should know, the strength of a case depends on the facts backed by evidence such as written documents," Yong countered in a statement on Friday (April 22).

"I would like to remind that the ICJ (International Court of Justice) award of Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan to Malaysia (against Indonesia in 2002) was because of a historical document issued by the British authorities in North Borneo (Sabah) to collect turtle eggs at Sipadan island.

"It is plain and obvious that such a crucial document originated from Sabah's historical records.

"The Federal AG's Chambers had relied on that turtle egg document that resided in Sabah.

"Believe me (in this Sulu claim issue), the Federal authorities will be knocking on the doors of the Sabah AG's Chambers.

"They require the assistance of the Sabah government to provide... historical documents."

Yong claimed there were many documents that not only prove Sulu never owned Sabah, but that sovereignty had passed from Brunei to eventually the British and then Malaysia, without Sulu ever having any rights or claim to ownership of North Borneo.

"And these key documents are still available in Brunei and other countries.

"What Sabah needs as rightly pointed out by SLS is our own repository.

"This need was exemplified when the former Federal AG (Tommy Thomas) himself revealed at the webinar that he was not aware of certain historical documents when his office was handling the Sulu arbitration case in Spain in 2019.

"So I urge the Sabah AG to rethink the need for a repository of documents on the Philippines/Sulu claim to Sabah," Yong said, adding that he was confident that SLS and relevant researchers or academicians can help with setting it up.