Kota Kinabalu, Sunday, 20 March 2022
The bare denial by ex-Chief Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal that he and his team went to Madrid in 2019 in connection with the infamous arbitration case by the descendants of the defunct Sulu sultanate is insufficient and casts more questions about the entire episode of the Philippines/Sulu claim to Sabah.
Other than a bare denial, which was a response to a question by a reporter, Shafie should shed more light on what he knows or does not know about the Madrid arbitration case.
I had on 5 June 2020 and again on 10 June 2020 challenged Datuk Shafie who was Chief Minister at the time, and his Party Permanent Chairman (Datuk V.K. Liew, now deceased), who was Federal Minister of Law in 2019 when the Sulu claim was brought to a Madrid arbitration court.
SAPP News on 5 June 2020 — https://stg.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/06/05/why-keep-silent-over-court-action-by-sultanates-heirs-yong-asks-warisan/
SAPP News on 10 June 2020 — https://sapp.org.my/blog/2020/06/10/yong-challenges-warisan-leaders-over-silence-on-the-kiram-claim-for-sabah-at-madrid-court/
I found it extremely strange that neither of the two top Warisan leaders responded at all.
What do they know or did not know? Why the strange silence on such a critical matter of existential consequences to Sabah?
The people of Sabah are of course reminded of the speech by Datuk Shafie, as MP for Semporna, in Parliament in April 2016, when he told the Malaysian government to let the Philippines/Sulu claim to Sabah be brought before the United Nations or the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court.
Such a push by a Malaysian MP to allow the Philippines/Sulu to take their Sabah claim to ICJ obviously had an encouraging impact on the claimants, especially the descendants of Kiram.
Now, when asked by reporters, Datuk Shafie said wait until the Sabah Legislative Assembly sitting this week. I hope Warisan and other Assemblypersons will not talk in a way that lends more weight to the Philippines/Sulu claim to Sabah.
Yong Teck Lee
Ex-Chief Minister, Nominated ADUN,
President, SAPP