KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak wants Putrajaya to bar Tan Sri Tommy Thomas from leaving Malaysia for the time being until it is determined if his 2019 letter to the lawyers for the heirs to the Sulu sultanate concerning Sabah had been discussed and mandated by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.

The Pekan MP also suggested that the government might consider barring those who held the office of prime minister, deputy prime minister, home minister, finance minister, defence minister when PH was in power at the same time because they were the main characters in charge back then.

“This is a matter of national sovereignty and a threat to Malaysia's overseas assets worth RM66 billion,” Najib said in a Facebook entry last night.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister when PH won the 2018 election until the coalition collapsed when several MPs from its ranked changed its allegiance.

His deputy was Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail while Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was home minister, Lim Guan Eng was finance minister, and Mohamad Sabu was defence minister.

In another post this morning, the former prime minister from Umno reminded two-time PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad of his past reported remarks on the Sulu sultanate controversy.

Digging up past news reports, Najib pointed out that Dr Mahathir previously said the PH government was committed to fulfilling its promise to pay the Sulu sultanate heirs.

To Najib, this was proof that the PH administration had acknowledged the Sulu claim over Sabah, which goes against Malaysia’s sovereignty.

He continued to mock the 97-year-old Langkawi MP for reportedly saying that PH's acknowledgment of the Sulu claim does not mean recognising the more recent Spanish arbitration court ruling that Malaysia had violated the 1878 agreements between the old Sulu kingdom and a representative of the British North Borneo Company.

“The PH government did not send a representative to fight the case in the Spanish court allegedly due to a stand of not acknowledging the Spanish court's decision but you can copy the letter of regret and fault to a Spanish court judge?” Najib asked.

He then mockingly asked if Dr Mahathir knew that Thomas’ letter “was quoted at least 10 times when arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa explained the reasonability of the award being given to the Sultan's heirs”.

Najib asserted that the PH government’s acknowledgement of the Sulu heirs’ claim could have long term consequences as it has “acknowledged that Sabah really belongs to the Sulu representatives”.

In 2019, Thomas wrote a letter saying that Malaysia did not dispute the identity of the individuals and their right to be paid and expressing regret that payments ceased in 2013, adding that Malaysia was “now ready and willing” to pay the Sulu sultan’s heirs arrears amounting to RM48,300.

The letter had been used as evidence by lawyers representing the Sulu sultan’s heirs to refute Malaysia’s rejection of their identity.

In 2013, Malaysia ceased payment of the RM5,300 cession money to the Sulu sultan’s heirs after an attack on Lahad Datu by self-described ruler Jamalul Kiram III.

Because of Malaysia’s application to strike out Spanish arbitrator Gonzales Stampa’s award, the decision was brought to the French courts.

The French court then upheld the decision concerning the compensation of a sum of US$14.92 billion to the Sulu sultan heirs.