Hold mediation talks with Sulu sultan’s heirs, govt urged

 

Sabah Law Society president Roger Chin says even setting aside the French arbitration award will not provide a permanent solution to the payment dispute.

PETALING JAYA: A Sabah lawyers’ group has urged Putrajaya to hold mediation dialogues with the descendants of the Sultan of Sulu over a French arbitration court’s instruction to pay them RM62.59 billion (US$14.92 billion).

The Sabah Law Society (SLS) said “non-binding without prejudice conciliation or mediation dialogues” with the claimants could be held in tandem with Putrajaya’s attempt to set aside the arbitral award.

SLS president Roger Chin pointed out that conciliation and mediation processes were non-binding and relied on a conciliator or mediator mutually agreed upon by both parties for both sides to try and reach a consensus.

“One such possible mutually acceptable decision could be a ‘few cents in the dollar’ approach where any award given could be mutually settled at a much lesser amount than what was awarded,” he said in a statement today.

“Even if Malaysia manages to set aside the French arbitration award, this does not provide a permanent legal solution to the dispute between the parties over how to deal with the payment disputes over the 1878 agreements.

“Such a non-binding conciliation approach should be held in tandem with any legal actions by the Malaysian government to resist or set aside the French arbitral award. This will not be prejudicial in any way at all to Putrajaya’s efforts to protect her interests.”

Chin cited Colin Ong, a Queen’s Counsel in London and a chartered arbitrator in Brunei, who spoke in a webinar jointly organised by SLS and the Kuala Lumpur Bar committee yesterday.

In February, a French arbitration court recorded arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa’s decision that Malaysia must pay at least RM62.59 billion (US$14.92 billion) to the descendants of the last Sulu sultan for violating the 1878 agreements.

The arbitrator, Gonzalo Stampa, ruled that Malaysia had violated the 1878 agreements between the old Sulu kingdom in the Philippines and a representative of the British North Borneo Company that used to administer what is now Sabah.

Malaysia has already filed an application to an arbitration court in France to set aside the RM62.59 billion award to the heirs. - FMT