Malaysia is challenging the heirs of the late sultan to try to lease part of the land

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s justice minister on Wednesday challenged the heirs of a former sultan who lost a legal bid to obtain nearly $15 billion from the government over a land dispute, to try to gain some of the country lease to which they still claim rights.

Earlier this month, France’s highest civil court rejected an appeal by the Filipino heirs of the last sultan of Sulu after a protracted legal battle stemming from a colonial-era land lease agreement.

The heirs had won a $14.9 billion judgment at a French arbitration court in 2022, but a court in Paris later upheld the Malaysian government’s challenge to the enforcement of a partial award. The Court of Cassation confirmed the ruling.

The heirs’ lawyer, Paul Cohen, then said the ruling strengthened their rights to the territory, which includes islands in the southern Philippines and parts of present-day Malaysia on the island of Borneo, and that they could lease the land to other countries, including the Philippines.

Malaysian Justice Minister Azalina Othman Said has dismissed Cohen’s claims as “baseless” and said the heirs may try to lease the land but legal action will be taken.

“Malaysia has been a sovereign and independent nation since 1957… so what he (Cohen) said makes no sense to me,” Azalina told reporters on Wednesday.

The dispute stemmed from an 1878 agreement between European settlers and the Sultan of Sulu over the use of its territory and present-day Malaysia respected the agreement after gaining independence from Britain.

Malaysia paid a token amount annually to the sultan’s heirs, but stopped in 2013 after a bloody raid by supporters of the former sultanate to reclaim land from Malaysia. The heirs then sought arbitration over what they claimed was a breach of the agreement.

(Reporting by Danial Azhar; Editing by Martin Petty)