KOTA KINABALU: Do not question Sabah's sovereignty in Malaysia, stresses Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor in response to the latest claims by a group calling themselves the United Tausug Citizens (UTC).
The Chief Minister said Sabahans had chosen to jointly form the Federation of Malaysia through the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and therefore, any external claims against the state of Sabah will not be recognised by the Sabah government or its people.
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Echoing the Federal Government's strong stand against entertaining the claims by UTC, he said that Sabah also has the backing of the global community on this matter.
"The state government strongly rejects any claim on Sabah that is akin to questioning the state's sovereignty in the Federation of Malaysia.
"The claims by UTC or any group on Sabah is nothing but a frivolous attempt to disrupt the state's peace and it is tantamount to threatening the sovereignty of the nation,” he said in a statement Sunday (March 10).
Hajiji said even the claims by the so-called heirs to the defunct Sulu Sultanate ended with the imprisonment of the arbitrator Dr Gonzalo Stampa.
On Saturday (March 9), Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said was reported as saying that Malaysia rejects what it terms as frivolous claims by UTC, which claim to be the "rightful custodians of the Sultanate of Sulu Territory” over Sabah. - Bernama
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