Anifah blames ‘inexperienced’ Shafie, Thomas in Sulu dispute

 

(From left) Former foreign minister Anifah Aman said Shafie Apdal and Thommy Thomas should have learned how to handle international relations.

PETALING JAYA: Former foreign minister Anifah Aman has blamed the inexperience of former Sabah chief minister Shafie Apdal and former attorney-general Tommy Thomas in causing problems for Malaysia in a dispute over Sabah’s sovereignty.

In a statement, Anifah said Shafie’s lack of experience and know-how had encouraged the Philippines to become braver with its territorial claim on Sabah two years ago.

He also criticised Shafie’s “recklessness” at the time in tacitly acknowledging the claim when Shafie said he wanted to have discussions and negotiations with the Philippines.

“My approach, which has always been the right approach, was not to recognise any claim,” said Anifah, who was foreign minister from 2009 to 2018 while he was then a member of Umno. He is now president of Parti Cinta Sabah.

He said Shafie’s behaviour had shown his ignorance of Malaysian history and international law.

Anifah said he had tried to advise Shafie, whom he did not name in the statement, to learn the language of diplomatic relations, as well as the handling of international relations, to avoid further blunders in the future over Sabah’s sovereignty.

“This advice also applies to the then attorney-general Tommy Thomas,” said Anifah.

He said Thomas had not thought of the implications of a letter he had written to lawyers representing the descendants of the former Sulu Sultanate who had filed a claim on “cession monies” – annual payments of RM5,300 which they said was due to them from the Malaysian government.

The letter became the subject of controversy last week after a report of an arbitration award of US$14.9 billion (RM62 billion) to the Sulu heirs.

Earlier today, former prime minister Najib Razak described the Thomas letter as being “extraordinarily stupid” for acknowledging the Sulu heirs. “Did Tommy and the Pakatan Harapan government think that the Sulu descendants would stop pursuing their case after being offered only RM48,300 in compensation?” he said.

The government has said the arbitration award was not recognised. The Attorney-General’s Chambers said the action had been moved to a French court after the Spanish High Court had quashed an earlier arbitration. The department has said it would also seek to quash the French award. - FMT