Saying the right chemistry exists, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim asserted that several threats to peace in the region should be resolved through his engagement with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
For instance, Anwar said, both Malaysia and the Philippines could push for high-level discussions involving the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN and China on a mechanism that would provide for constant consultations.
The ASEAN and China are working on a Code of Conduct that will consist of actions that will bind signatories to an approach to territorial claims.
ASEAN must hold high-level discussions and take a position on matters that China is willing to take up, Anwar said.
“We must secure a basic understanding between ASEAN vis-a-vis China on the territorial issues,” he averred.
“We want to preserve ASEAN as a zone of peace, neutrality and freedom,” the Malaysian leader stressed.
In his meeting with Marcos, Anwar proposed that the same formula be applied to the Sabah question.
An ancient British contract that Malaysia honors up to now acknowledged Sabah as the property of the Sulu Sultanate, but the difference existed in the interpretation of the contract provisions that were written in Malay.
The Sultanate holds the contract, and the Philippine government says it is a lease agreement but Malaysia insists it is a cession and the annual remittance to the Sultanate was not rent but a payment.
Anwar maintains that Sabah is a Malaysian territory, but he “acknowledges” the Philippines’ contention.
Adding a complication to the issue was the French arbitral court award in 2022 that directed the Malaysian government to pay the heirs of the Sulu Sultanate $14.92 billion for breach of contract after Malaysia ceased the annual transfers to the royal family following the 2013 Lahad Datu incursion.
As a result of the violation, Malaysia was assessed the entire value of the lease agreement and not the token amount of 5,300 Malaysian ringgit annually, which is even less than the minimum wage in the Philippines.
Fending off the claim by ignoring the legal proceedings has cost the Malaysians greatly.
Its government, thus far, has spent 31 million Malaysian ringgit, or P380 million, for legal representations after the arbitral ruling in February last year.
It is ironic that Malaysia’s refusal to recognize the proceedings has led to its current predicament.
As the lawyers of the Sultanate sought to enforce the ruling in jurisdictions that recognize the New York convention that respects the authority of international tribunals, the legal costs are expected to balloon further.
Malaysia refuses to recognize the ruling, saying the Sultanate’s claims are “ridiculous,” which is a position that has lost significance with the arbitral award that recognized the 1878 document as a lease agreement.
The willingness of Malaysia’s head of government to listen, as is his formula in the West Philippine Sea conflict, is the best way forward to resolving longstanding frictions in the region, including the Sabah claim.