KUALA LUMPUR: Sabah will never be ceded to or come under the control of the Philippines, and the Malaysian Government will always defend the integrity of its territorial sovereignty, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

He said this to clarify and expand upon his reply to a question posed by Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin in Parliament on Oct 6 in respect of the ongoing arbitral dispute, known as the Sulu Claim, between the purported heirs to the defunct Sulu Sultanate and the Malaysian Government, in which he said the Sulu claim was a private claim and had nothing to do with the question of sovereignty.

"To clarify, my answer was in relation to whether there is any chance that Sabah could, as a result of the unlawful Paris Award, become part of the Philippines.

"Let me say again that this is not possible. Sabah will never be ceded to or come under the control of the Philippines, and the Federal Government stands by and will always defend the integrity of Malaysia's territorial sovereignty," he said in a statement today.

The unlawful Paris Award was handed down by arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa on Feb 28, 2022, and purportedly awarded the Sulu claimants a sum of USD14.92 billion.

"When I said that the Paris Award was a result of a private claim, it was a statement meaning that the claim was made by private individuals (the purported heirs of the defunct Sulu Sultan) and not by the Government of the Philippines.

"Further, when I stated that the Sulu Claim and the purported Paris Award were not related to the question of sovereignty, that statement was in the context of territorial sovereignty - that is whether or not there was a chance that Sabah could ever be handed over to the Philippines," the minister reiterated.

Wan Junaidi said the Sulu Claim is an attack on and an infringement of Malaysia's sovereign and economic interests abroad.

"The Sulu Claimants are using the arbitral process which is a private international law mechanism to attack Malaysia's sovereign interests abroad.

"This is not only an abuse of process but is, an assault on Malaysia's sovereignty and sovereign interests," he added.

-- BERNAMA