A LONDON-BASED lawyer today refuted the Attorney-General Chambers’ (AGC) statement casting doubt on the identities of the heirs of sultan of Sulu, calling it “misleading”.

Elisabeth Mason, the UK lawyer representing the Sulu descendants, referred to a 2019 letter from then attorney-general Tommy Thomas to fellow lawyer Paul Cohen, in which it was evident that the  AGC and the Foreign Ministry had formally recognised the claimants and their rights “for years”.

“Last week’s statement from the current attorney-general that their ‘identities are doubtful’ is deeply misleading to his audiences,” Mason was quoted saying on FMT today. 

“The Malaysian government knows the claimants well, knows that they peacefully engage with Malaysia, and that they are totally distinct from the pretenders who have violently confronted Malaysian sovereignty.”

The AGC said the identities of the claimants were in doubt in response to a French arbitration court ruling that Malaysia had violated a treaty signed in 1878 and must pay at least RM62.6 billion (US$14.9 billion) to the descendants of the last Sulu sultan. 

The award was issued by Spanish arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa on February 28.

The Malaysian government rejects the final award to be paid to the so-called descendants of the last sultan of Sulu, Sultan Jamalul Kiram II.

In a joint statement, the Foreign Ministry and the AGC said an 1878 agreement between Sultan Mohamet Jamal Al Alam, the sultan of Sulu at the time, and Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent, did not have a provision for arbitration. 

The statement said under the 1878 agreement, the sultan granted and ceded in perpetuity the sovereign rights over certain territories located in North Borneo, now part of Sabah. 

Last June 29, upon application by the Malaysian government, a nullification decision was made when the Madrid High Court decided that the service of notice of the proceedings for appointment of arbitrator for purposes of the claim was not properly served in Malaysia in accordance with peremptory international rules and Spanish law.  

The statement said that as a consequence of the nullification, Stampa was not recognised as an arbitrator and that therefore, all his decisions, including the final award, were null and void.

Mason, citing the 2019 letter, today said that former AG Thomas had acknowledged that the claimants were the rightful heirs to the sultanate and that they were the same people to whom Malaysia had been making payments for years.

In the 2019 letter, Thomas attached a true copy of the Macaskie judgment of 1939 and said Malaysia did not dispute the identity of the individuals and their right to be paid.

Thomas also regretted that payments had ceased in 2013, adding that Malaysia was “now ready and willing” to pay Cohen’s clients all arrears from 2013 to 2019.

FMT had also sighted a document from the Malaysian embassy in Manila dated June 28, 2012, asking the heirs by the names to collect the cheques for “cession money”. – March 10, 2022.