The Warisan president said former foreign minister Anifah Aman and SAPP president Yong Teck Lee were “not qualified persons to give views on the Sulu claim”.
“They lack the legal understanding on the matter and instead make press statements which amount to disinformation, all intended to mislead the people and glorify themselves,” he said in a statement here today.
“Anifah knows that the Philippine government does not recognise the so-called Sulu sultanate and has called them ‘terrorists’ and ‘criminals’ during the Lahad Datu incursion in 2013.
“Nobody or any government will recognise them and their claim on Sabah does not make any sense at all. This issue should not be politicised.
“As Sabahans, we must be united and protect our sovereignty.”
Last week, Anifah had said that Shafie’s lack of experience and know-how had encouraged the Philippines to become bolder with its territorial claim on Sabah two years ago.
Yong also issued a statement after that, questioning whether Shafie had gone to Spain to challenge the claim by the Sulu descendants when the case went up for arbitration in a Madrid court in 2019.
Yong, also a former chief minister, continued his attack on Shafie in the state assembly on Monday, demanding to know if the latter sent a representative to Madrid to counter the claim.
On this, Shafie said he “was never in Spain” and to his knowledge, no Sabah official had been sent to the country over the case as well.
“I believe Wisma Putra and the federal Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) handled the matter and stopped the bid by the ‘heirs’ to get a judgment in Madrid.
“They should read the extensive and clear explanation by Wisma Putra and AGC on March 2 and by law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar on March 10 on the matter following the Paris court decision.
“It is clear that the matter was handled by the federal government and neither Sabah nor I was involved,” Shafie said.
Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had previously said Malaysia had filed an application to an arbitration court in France to set aside a US$14.92 billion (RM62.59 billion) award to the heirs of the last Sulu sultan.
He said the descendants’ claims via an arbitration court were illegitimate and unlawful.
It was previously reported that the arbitration court had instructed the government to pay the Sulu sultan’s descendants the sum over a breach of an 1878 agreement on what is now modern-day Sabah.