KOTA KINABALU, March 4 — Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor says the so-called Sulu Sultanate heirs’ claim has never been and will never be recognised by the state government, in view of Sabah being a sovereign state within the Federation of Malaysia.

Therefore, he calls upon the people to remain calm and let the state and federal governments handle the matter.

"It is an absurd claim. Sabah’s sovereignty in the Malaysia Federation should never be questioned,” he said in a statement here.

Wisma Putra and Federal Attorney General, in a joint-statement, had said that Malaysia rejected the French Arbitration Court’s order to pay RM63 billion to the descendants of the Sulu Sultanate.

The arbitrator, Gonzalo Stampa, ruled on February 28 that Malaysia had violated the 1878 agreements between the old Sulu Kingdom in the Philippines and a representative of the British North Borneo Company that used to administer what is now Sabah.

"The Government of Malaysia does not recognise the Claim and did not participate in the purported arbitration proceedings because Malaysia has always upheld and has never waived its sovereign immunity as a sovereign State,” the statement stated. — Borneo Post Online