KOTA KINABALU, March 14 — Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal has never recognised Sulu’s claim on Sabah and had in fact issued a statement asking Putrajaya to take the issue of Philippines’ claim seriously, said Parti Warisan (Warisan) Wira chief Datuk Azis Jamman.

"Does saying that Putrajaya needs to hold diplomatic talks with the Philippine Government and demand that it drop the claim mean that Mohd Shafie recognizes Sulu’s claim?” he asked.

The fact is, the state government has no diplomatic authority to manage issues involving two countries, it is a diplomatic affair of the Federal Government, said the Sepanggar Member of Parliament in a statement on Monday.

Azis explained that ‘Diplomatic Talks’ here meant Putrajaya and the Philippine Embassy needed to sit together and resolve the issue of the claim.

"The word ‘discussion’ was manipulated by Datuk Seri Anifah Aman to blame Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie.

‘Discussion’ here does not mean we acknowledge. This shows Anifah is willing to do anything to blame others and he may not be aware of it,” he opined.

According to Azis, Anifah needs to understand that ‘discussion’ and ‘recognition’ are two things that carry different meanings.

"The term ‘discussion’ means that the two countries meet and resolve the issues that arise. For example, when Ukraine invited Russia to discuss the Russian occupation of Ukraine, does that mean Ukraine recognizes Russian occupation of Ukraine?

"Of course the answer is no, but why did the President of Ukraine state he was open to talks with Russia?” asked Azis.

The answer is, he said, because the resolution of a conflict can only be done through a process of discussion by sitting down to discuss face to face in the hope that the issue can be resolved.

The same is true in the context of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and the Philippines, he stressed.

"Anifah failed to resolve the issue of the Philippines’ claim on Sabah while holding the post of Foreign Minister from 2009 to 2018. In fact, Anifah also spent a lot of time abroad until he was rejected by the people of Kimanis in the election.

"The question here is, why did Anifah not act to resolve the issue of the Philippine claim on Sabah, while holding the post of Foreign Minister?” he said.

Anifah has blamed the inexperience of Shafie when he was the Sabah chief minister and former attorney-general Tommy Thomas in causing problems for Malaysia in a dispute over Sabah’s sovereignty.

In a statement, Anifah said Shafie’s lack of experience and know-how had encouraged the Philippines to become braver with its territorial claim on Sabah two years ago.

He also criticised Shafie’s "recklessness” at the time in tacitly acknowledging the claim when Shafie said he wanted to have discussions and negotiations with the Philippines.

"My approach, which has always been the right approach, was not to recognise any claim,” he said.

Anifah, who was foreign minister from 2009 to 2018 and president of Parti Cinta Sabah, said Shafie’s behaviour had shown his ignorance of Malaysian history and international law.

He said he had tried to advise Shafie, whom he did not name in the statement, to learn the language of diplomatic relations, as well as the handling of international relations, to avoid further blunders in the future over Sabah’s sovereignty.

"This advice also applies to the then attorney-general Tommy Thomas,” said Anifah.

He said Thomas had not thought of the implications of a letter he had written to lawyers representing the descendants of the former Sulu Sultanate who had filed a claim on "cession monies” – annual payments of RM5,300 which they said was due to them from the Malaysian government.

The letter became the subject of controversy last week after a report of an arbitration award of US$14.9 billion (RM62 billion) to the Sulu heirs. — Borneo Post