PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has lodged a new formal protest to the United Nations (UN) against the Philippines’ claim to an extended continental shelf that encroaches on Sabah’s maritime territory, says Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
The Foreign Minister said the protest was pre-emptively lodged with the UN earlier on July 24 this year, before the Philippines made its own oral submission on July 27, 2026, to extend its maritime territorial claim.
“Malaysia reiterated the protest that had been previously submitted back in 2024.
“Therefore, the statement in the recent press coverage that claimed Malaysia has remained silent on the issue is not true,” he said in a statement on Saturday (Aug 8).
His remarks came after former Sabah chief minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee urged the Malaysian government to break its “strange silence” over the Philippines’ claim, warning it encroaches on Sabah’s continental shelf.
In June 2024, the Philippines first filed an Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) claim of the western Palawan region of the South China Sea.
The issue comes from the Philippines' latest extended claim in July this year that still includes part of Malaysia’s continental shelf in the northwestern part of the Borneo islands, namely Sabah.
