KOTA KINABALU, Sept 8 — The final landmark judgment by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands in dismissing the appeal filed by the Sulu claimants is very good news for Sabah and Malaysia, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor.
“The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Malaysia hence putting an end to the claim which Sabah has never recognised in the first place,” he said.
Hajiji reaffirmed that Sabah’s sovereignty in Malaysia should not be doubted and challenged by anyone.
The Chief Minister was responding to the statement by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said that the decision by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands has closed the chapter on the claimant’s attempts to enforce illegitimate claims on Malaysia.
On June 27, 2023, the Hague Court of Appeal in the Netherlands dismissed the Sulu claimants’ application for recognition and enforcement of a purported arbitral Final Award of US$14.9 billion (RM62.59 billion) to be enforced in the Netherlands.
Previously, eight citizens of the Philippines, allegedly heirs of the defunct Sulu sultanate, filed for arbitration proceedings in Spain to seek billions of US dollars from Malaysia over Sabah, and a court in Madrid had in March 2019 appointed Stampa to be the arbitrator for the Sulu claimants’ case.
Stampa had, on Feb 28, 2022, decided in their favour and the Final Award of US$14.9 billion resulting from the sham arbitration was issued illegally by Stampa to the eight claimants despite the prior annulment of his appointment as an arbitrator by the Spanish court.
In their bid to enforce the US$14.9 billion Final Award, the Sulu claimants were reported to have attempted to seize Malaysia’s oil firm Petronas’ assets in Luxembourg, assets in the Netherlands and also targeted Malaysia’s diplomatic assets in France (including part of its embassy).
On May 17 this year, Malaysia was notified of the Madrid Court of Appeal’s decision to dismiss Stampa’s appeal and uphold his six-month prison sentence and one-year ban from practising as an arbitrator.
The Madani Unity Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had aggressively countered the claim by the eight individuals.
Malaysia had secured a decisive victory in the long-running dispute, as a result of favourable rulings by the Court in Luxembourg, the Hague Court of Appeal in the Netherlands, the Paris Court of Appeal in France as well as in the Spanish Court. — The Borneo Post
