President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim have agreed to hold in-depth discussions on competing claims over Sabah.
While Mr. Marcos acknowledged that Malaysia currently serves as the “administrator of Sabah,” he said top diplomats from both countries will hold negotiations on the issue.
“We also touched on the issue of Sabah. The Philippines is claiming that Sabah is ours. Now, [Malaysia] is the administrator of Sabah,that’s why we said we need to have an in-depth talk,” the President said in a vlog uploaded on his official Facebook page Saturday.
“Our respective foreign affairs secretaries will talk about it to resolve the issue,” he added.
Last year, a French court ordered Malaysia to pay US$4.9 billion to the heirs of the Sulu Sultanate for breach of an international private lease agreement on Sabah.
The court granted the demand of compensation after Malaysia stopped paying the annual cession money of RM5,300 (about P65,700) to the sultanate heirs following the 2013 armed invasion of militants allegedly sent by Sabah claimant heir Jamalul Kiram III.
Under the country’s new law on archipelagic baselines signed in 2009 and was upheld in 2011 by the Supreme Court, it categorically stated that the Philippines retains its claim on Sabah.
In an interview with ANC’s “Headstart” program, Anwar said Manila and Kuala Lumpur’s stance is to take a “cordial” approach in addressing the territorial dispute.
“[It] should not be an issue that easily provokes or causes antagonism,” he said.
“These are two great nations. They must walk together. I represent this generation, and I told the President (Marcos) very clearly that… let us work together,” Anwar said.
The President said he and Anwar also talked about the assistance Malaysia could provide for the successful conduct of elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in 2025.
“We discussed the things that we should do for the upcoming election of BARMM officials,” Marcos said.
Malaysia acted as a third-party facilitator in the Philippine government’s peace process with Muslim separatists in Mindanao, which has contributed to significant progress in stability in the south.
