WITH the Dutch Court of Appeal’s recent decision on Sulu claimants going Malaysia’s way, it has given Law and Institutional Reform Minister Azalina Othman Said the licence to talk tough.

Azalina said if there is one guarantee the Malaysian government can give, it is that “we will fight to the end”, she told reporters at a press conference at the Asian International Arbitration Centre headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

She said the one thing she and Paul Cohen, lead counsel to the purported heirs of the defunct Sulu sultanate, agree on is that the fight is not over.

“The guarantee of this government is that we will fight to the end. But while fighting, I want the costs to be paid first.

“We will not stop and we will not compromise (in the face of) any blackmail by any countries or any individuals out there, Malaysian or not.

“You tell him (Cohen) if he wants to fight, then fight fairly. Don’t jump from jurisdiction to jurisdiction,” she said.

After the failure in the Dutch court, Cohen was reported to have said the Sulu claimants have other avenues to pursue, such as mounting an appeal at the Dutch Supreme Court.

The claimants had first sought arbitration in Spain after Malaysia ceased the annual payment of RM5,300 to the sultanate in 2013 following an armed incursion in Lahad Datu by Sulu fighters.

A Spanish arbitrator, Gonzalo Stampa, decided in favour of the claimants. 

In a legal twist, Madrid’s High Court of Justice later annulled Stampa as arbitrator in the case.

Since then, the Sulu claimants have been attempting to enforce the final award in France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands by seizing Malaysian assets.

Like the Dutch court, the French court dismissed the claimants’ bid to enforce the final award in France.

Though Azalina acknowledged the claimants’ right to pursue the case in various jurisdictions, she questioned the need for it.

She said the claimants are doing “foreign shopping” by jumping from one jurisdiction to another.

“It is very obvious that (they) don’t want the truth to be told,” she said. – June 30, 2023.