Azalina dares Sulu sultan’s heirs to try leasing out Sabah

 

Law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said said Malaysia would contest any attempt by the Sulu heirs to lease out Sabah. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

Law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said today dared the Filipino heirs of the last sultan of Sulu to try leasing out Sabah to other nations.

Azalina said claims by the heirs’ lawyer Paul Cohen made no sense, and that Malaysia would contest any such attempt (to lease) as Sabah was part of the country.

“Try it. What can I do if that’s how he thinks? But we are a sovereign country that has been independent since 1957,” she said, adding that Sabah’s status as part of Malaysia had been affirmed by the Cobbold Commission.

“He is saying things that I think makes no sense. But as a lawyer, he has the right (to say such things) if he feels his clients have such rights,” she said.

Cohen was reported as telling the New Straits Times that a French court’s rejection of a challenge by his clients to an earlier decision dismissing the “final award” of nearly US$15 billion by Spanish arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa meant that his clients were free to lease Sabah to other nations, including China and the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Azalina added: “Once this case is settled, we will decide whether the Malaysian government will demand reimbursement from them for the people’s money spent on lawyers and court fees.

“We won’t let them sue us as they please. We will decide on that too,” she said. - FMT