Sulu claim: Federal Govt should make clear stand on Sabah's sovereignty, says lawyer

KOTA KINABALU: The Federal Government must make a clear stand once and for all that Sabah is part of Malaysia and no one else should make any claim otherwise, says lawyer Datuk Fuad Ahmad.

Fuad, who is a member of the special secretariat handling claims by the self-proclaimed Sulu heirs, said personally, he felt that the question of Sabah's sovereignty must now be answered clearly by the Federal Government.

"The issue of Sabah's sovereignty is not complex. We cannot keep saying that it is. Sabah is Malaysia and Malaysia is Sabah," he said in voicing his views on this matter after a briefing on the latest status pertaining to the Sulu claims on Malaysia here Friday (May 5).

He felt that as long as the Philippines government continued politicising the Sabah sovereignty issue, then the claims on Sabah would repeat themselves over and over again.

Fuad, who is also the legal advisor to the state government, said the Federal Government was not firm enough when answering questions pertaining to Sabah and it has to make it very clear that Sabah, being part of Malaysia, was not going anywhere.

Touching on the international legal suits from the so-call Sulu claimants on Sabah, he said the case against Malaysia was due to and based on a single letter issued by the former attorney general dated June 16, 2019, which admitted that there was a valid agreement between the Sulu heirs and Malaysia regarding Sabah and that Malaysia was in the wrong.

He said Malaysia - in 2019 and 2020 - did not adequately defend itself against the Sulu heirs' claim in Spain and France, and as a result, important historical facts had been left out of the proceedings.

Fuad said Malaysia was now resisting the Sulu claim based on the legality of the French arbitral award and the fact that the Spanish Court had ruled the appointment of the arbitrator was invalid, among others.

"We cannot reveal our strategy as it is a complicated legal process but rest assured, that the secretariat is doing all that is necessary and Malaysia is in safe hands," he said.

The briefing was held between the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department and state assemblymen including Kadamaian assemblyman Datuk Ewon Benedick, nominated assemblyman Datuk Yong Teck Lee, Jannie Lasimbang (Kepayan), Norazlinah Arif (Kunak) and Kuamut assemblyman Datuk Masiung Banah.