The ICJ recognised Malaysia’s claim in its decision on the dispute between Malaysia and Indonesia over the islands of Ligitan and Sipadan off the coast of Sabah in December 2002. The Philippines had at the time applied to intervene in the case, but its application was rejected.
“The Sultanate of Sulu had, by its several actions and by various separate instruments between 19 April 1851 and 26 June 1946, relinquished and ceded all of its rights, interests and dominion over what was previously referred to as North Borneo,” council vice-president Christopher Leong said here in a statement.
“The Sultanate of Sulu, even if such an entity were to legally exist today, has no subsisting legitimate claim to Sabah.”
Last week, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima from the Philippines’ Department of Justice reportedly said the government had not ruled out taking the Sulu group’s claim on Sabah to the ICJ, but was carefully studying the case as it did not want to strain its friendship with Malaysia.
The Sulu Sultanate has laid claim to Sabah, saying it had merely leased North Borneo in 1878 to the British North Borneo Company for an annual payment of 5,000 Malayan dollars then, which was increased to 5,300 Malayan dollars in 1903.
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