Malaysia will not bow to any claims for Sabah, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.

He said Malaysia remains steadfast in its stand not to compromise on any issues pertaining to Sabah’s sovereignty and will defend the state at all costs.

“Recently, there was a statement by the Philippines on how it wanted to draw out a new map, which among others, to be included in its passport… I am going to make this short, we will not bow to this claim, Sabah remains in Malaysia, Sabah is part of Malaysia.

“Let there be no attempt to pull Sabah out of Malaysia and let there also be no attempt by non-Malaysians to claim Sabah as part of their territory. We will never proceed with that, we will fight to defend Sabah," he said.

The prime minister emphasised this in his speech at a gathering with federal civil servants at the Sabah International Convention Centre here.

On Aug 27, Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Kamarudin Jaafar said the proposal to include Sabah and 200 miles of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in a map in the Philippines passport is not a new move nor is it an official stand of its government.

He said the matter was a proposal of a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of The Philippine House of Representatives to create a substitute bill to amend, replace or abolish the Philippines Passport Act 1996.

-- BERNAMA