KOTA KINABALU:. I’ve always maintained that we do not recognize, do not give any form of legitimacy, and will not entertain any claim by any party on Sabah. Sabah is recognized by the United Nations (UN) and the international community as part of Malaysia since the formation of the Federation on 16 September 1963.
During my time as the Foreign Minister, Philippines was never this bold unlike current times.
This was brought on due to the caretaker Chief Minister recklessness in *giving legitimacy* of the claim by wanting to discuss and negotiate with Philippines, which automatically acknowledges the claim whereas my approach was not to recognise any claim.
I blame the Caretaker Chief Minister’s lack of experience or know how for this blunder which has led to Philippines becoming braver with its baseless claims on Sabah. This proves how ignorant the Caretaker Chief Minister is on our history and international law, as well as potentially harming our Sovereignty.
I strongly state again that any claim by Philippines towards Sabah is irrelevant, not recognised and should not have been given any legitimacy (ie, shouldn’t even be brought to any international tribunal). Sabah is part of Malaysia and always will be. The act of caretaker Chief Minister Shafie in entertaining the claim in an international tribunal as he earlier explained, is akined to ‘gambling the fate of Sabah’s sovereignty’ at the hand of such tribunal.
Let me ask him, if the said International Arbitration Court in Spain made a ruling/judgment in favour of Philippines, perhaps due to his team and his own weakness in ‘defending’ Sabah’s sovereignty, what is he going to do next? He might have ended up, in my opinion, the person that gave Sabah away. His silence on this issue can possibly be deduced as him ‘binding his own feet’ – he wouldn’t want to say anything that would jeapardise this case in the international Arbitration Court which he ‘gave legitimacy’ to.
I would like to advice the current caretaker chief minister to take time and learn the language of diplomatic relations or leave the matter to be handled by the proper authorities in order to avoid further blunders in future with regards to our Sovereignty.-
Datuk Seri Panglima Anifah Haji Aman
Presiden Parti Cinta Sabah
26 August 2020
