KUALA LUMPUR - The formidable endeavours undertaken by the government to safeguard property, rights, and national sovereignty were unequivocally validated through Malaysia's triumphant adjudications in international courts against legal action brought by a group of Sulu individuals purporting to be descendants of the Sulu Sultanate.
The Madani unity government under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had aggressively countered the claim by the eight individuals and had secured a decisive victory in the long-running dispute, as a result of favourable rulings by the Court in Luxembourg, the Hague Court of Appeal in the Netherlands, the Paris Court of Appeal in France as well as in the Spanish Court.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said gave the assurance that the government will fight all the way as Malaysia will not compromise against threats.
She said the claim was a ‘sophisticated attack,’ adding that the government would launch ‘an aggressive movement to put an end to it”.
On May 25, 2020, an illegally appointed Spanish arbitrator, Dr Gonzalo Stampa issued a purported final award of US$14.9 billion (RM62.59 billion) to eight Sulu claimants.
In a bid to enforce the award, they were reported to have tried to seal the assets of national oil company Petronas in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, apart from targeting the country's diplomatic assets in France.
The fight is not over, as Malaysia had used all legal remedies to annul the award Stampa gave to the claimants in courts in Spain, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
On Jan 24, the Malaysian government won the case after the Court in Luxembourg set aside an attachment order applied by the Sulu group. Malaysia then applied to set aside an attachment order on July 11, 2022.
On Feb 2, the Spanish Constitutional Court upheld the annulment of Stampa’s appointment as arbitrator in the so-called Sulu dispute after rejecting an extraordinary constitutional appeal filed by the Sulu group.
On March 16, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld the stay order obtained by the Malaysian government in France on July 12, 2022, against the enforcement of the award.
Therefore, the suspension order obtained by Malaysia regarding the enforcement of the award is maintained.
Malaysia once again secured a landmark victory when on June 6, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld Malaysia's challenge against the partial award and also scored another win when the Hague Court of Appeal on June 27 dismissed the Sulu group's application to recognise and enforce the final award in the country.
Malaysia created another piece of history after the French Court on Nov 6, annulled the order of the rising of a statue to be mortgaged against a Malaysian diplomatic building in Paris by a self-proclaimed Sulu group from the Philippines.
The French Court recorded the withdrawal of claims to seize assets (Malaysia’s diplomatic buildings) by the Sulu group and the outcome of the decisions on Nov 6 and 9 ended efforts by the Sulu group to seize Malaysia-linked assets throughout the world.
On Nov 6, 2023, the Paris enforcement judge quashed its prior ex-parte order authorising that a statutory mortgage be registered on three diplomatic buildings owned by Malaysia in Paris.
Malaysia reached a new milestone in the case when it succeeded in bringing Stampa to the Madrid Criminal Court on Dec 11 for allegedly committing contempt of court and repeatedly defying court orders annulling his appointment as an arbitrator in the Sulu dispute case.
Azalina said the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office and Malaysia had accused Stampa of the criminal offence of serious contempt of court, with the Public Prosecutor’s Office also accusing him of unqualified professional practice.
"The (coming) decision will also serve as a guarantee for us to put an end to any claims in any (other) countries which may arise after this.
"Secondly, I hope that, if possible, he (Stampa) would be jailed and not only fined for being insolent towards Malaysia,” she said adding that the court had postponed the decision to a date yet to be fixed.
In 2019, the group was reported to have taken legal action in the Spanish Court to seek compensation for land in Sabah, allegedly leased by their ancestors to a British trading company in 1878.
The year 2023 also saw the unity government making a historic move with the enforcement of the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023 (Act 847) which took effect on Sept 12 this year, conferring the Federal Court with discretion to review cases involving the death sentence and natural life imprisonment.
This comes after the commencement of the Abolition of the Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023, on July 4 this year.
Under the new law, judges have the discretion to impose either the death penalty or a prison sentence for a period of not less than 30 years and up to 40 years, and if not sentenced to death, shall also be punished with whipping of not less than 12 strokes for male convicts below 50 years of age.
One of the cases which captured public attention was the case of a 57-year-old former policeman, Mohd Ya'cob Demyati who was convicted of killing Spoon band singer Sabi'ul Malik Shafiee, also known as Along Spoon.
Mohd Ya'cob’s natural life imprisonment was commuted to life imprisonment of 33 years under the revised act.
He was freed on the same day of the hearing on Nov 16, taking into account the one-third remission for good behaviour in prison.
Another case involved eleven individuals who were convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced either to death or life imprisonment.
Following a Federal Court’s decision on Nov 14, seven of the death row inmates, including two Thai nationals, had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment of 30 years, while another four had their natural life imprisonment sentences commuted to life imprisonment of 30 years.
Meanwhile, on Nov 26, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said former Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri was among the first 900 groups to apply for the review in line with the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court).
Azilah, a former member of the police Special Action Unit (UTK) was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu.
On Dec 8, 2020, the Federal Court dismissed his review application to set aside his conviction and death sentence.
Another person convicted of the murder of the Mongolian woman is former police commando Sirul Azhar Umar, but according to Saifuddin Nasution, there was no application from him (yet) for a review of the death sentence.
It was reported that Sirul was released from the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney, Australia, last Nov 11 after nine years in the custody of the Australian Immigration Department.
Sirul's release followed a ruling by the Australian High Court on Nov 8, which ruled that non-citizen detainees who cannot be deported can no longer be detained indefinitely by the immigration authorities. - BERNAMA