KUCHING, March 2, 2022 - Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government should take a cue from the descendants of the last Sultan Sulu to sue the Malaysian government for breaching the terms of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan said today.
He said the GPS government should not wait further to take legal actions in court to sue the federal government or even the United Kingdom for breaches of terms and conditions in the MA63.
“A failure to do so should be seen by Sarawakians as inability by GPS government to protect Sarawak rights,” Voon, who is a practising lawyer, said in a statement when commenting on the award of RM62.59 billion (US$14.92b) to the descendants of the last Sultan Sulu.
News reports had reported that the Malaysia government was instructed to pay the amount by a Spanish arbitrator, Gonzalo Stampa, in an arbitration court in Paris, France.
Citing Spanish news website La Información, the ruling was made following a violation of the 1878 agreement signed by Sultan Jamal Al Alam, Baron de Overbeck and the British North Borneo Company’s Alfred Dent.
It was reported that Malaysia had stopped paying Sultan Sulu’s heirs their annual RM5,300 cession money since 2013 as a result of the Lahad Datu armed incursion.
Voon urged GPS government to take a serious look at the claims by the descendants of the last Sulu Sultan for violation of the 1878 agreement.
He argued the fact that the federal and state governments of Sabah and Sarawak had formed steering committees to deliberate and overcome the breaches leading to recent amendments to the Federal Constitution is a clear admission or acknowledgement by the federal, Sarawak and Sabah governments of the breaches of the terms and conditions of MA63.
He said Sarawak and Sabah were once colonies of United Kingdom and Malaya became the successor of United Kingdom after Sarawak and Sabah were handed to Malaya to enlarge her territories to form Malaysia.
“This should be used by the Sarawak government to make the federal government of Malaysia liable for damages, loss of revenues, oil and gas and all other rights that Sarawak had suffered caused by the breaches,” he said.
The Sulu sultan’s descendants had initially wanted to claim US$32.2 bil (RM135.08 bil) from Malaysia to recover the unpaid cession money along with how much they believe should have been paid for the oil and gas found in the region.
The descendants had filed the case in Spain as the 1878 agreement was signed in the country.
It was initially heard in Madrid until the Madrid High Court (Tribunal Superior de Justica de Madrid) annulled Stampa’s appointment, citing that Malaysia was not properly informed about the case and was thus “defenceless”.
The case was later moved to the French capital.
According to the arbitration news website Global Arbitration Review, Malaysia did not send a team in the Paris arbitration hearing.
Following Stampa’s annulment, Malaysia is now challenging his validity to hear the case in criminal court.
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