“I term this commercial piracy,” Azalina said when replying to points raised in the debate on the King’s speech at the Dewan Rakyat this evening.
The law and institutional reform minister was commenting on a documentary by Singapore’s Channel News Asia on Sulu and the 2013 Lahad Datu incursion.
The documentary had mentioned the commercial arbitration sought by the eight Sulu claimants, she said.
When contacted by FMT, Azalina’s ministry explained that the Sulu claimants were using commercial means to “commit piracy against Malaysia”.
Saying the “heirs” to the Sulu sultan had identified themselves as Filipinos in the documentary, she added: “(Therefore) this is an issue of (national) sovereignty.”
Azalina said as the dispute between the government and the “heirs” was a sovereignty issue, it should be fought in a proper court and “not a commercial arbitration court”.
She was alluding to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that deals with disputes between nations on territorial claims.
It was recently reported that Luxembourg court bailiffs issued fresh seizure orders against two units of Petronas, following a bid by descendants of the former sultanate to enforce a US$15 billion (RM66 billion) award they had won against Malaysia. The award was granted to them by a French arbitration court last year.
Putrajaya, however, could not confirm the reports.
Azalina also said these attempted seizures by the Sulu claimants were meant to “scare Malaysians”, adding that a stable government was needed to deal with such tactics.
“If the government is not stable, they will threaten our assets. And remember they are not only looking at Petronas’ assets but many more of our assets.”
Azalina also said a special briefing for MPs on the arbitration issue would take place on March 2 and that she would be having another session with Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor and assemblymen on March 3.
Separately, on the issue of the formation of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to look into claims made by former attorney-general Tommy Thomas in his memoir, Azalina said a Cabinet paper would be presented at next week’s meeting.