KOTA KINABALU, 24 Aug 2020:
The Sabah state government has asked Wisma Putra to issue a stern warning to the Philippines government over the printing of the Sabah map on Philippine passports.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said the Philippines ambassador to Malaysia must be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain the matter.
He said Sabahans had been assured of full security and protection when the Federation of Malaysia was formed in 1963 and as such, Wisma Putra must now react strongly as the act was a violation of Sabah’s sovereignty and an unnecessary provocation.
“Sabah is a sovereign state and this has been settled a long time ago,” he said in a statement today, while also calling on Wisma Putra to state its stand firmly.
Yesterday, the media reported the Philippines House Committee on Foreign Affairs had approved a substitute measure which requires the printing of the Philippine map – including its 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and Sabah – on Philippine passports.
Mohd Shafie stressed that Sabah is an independent state within the Federation of Malaysia via the Malaysia Agreement of 1963, which has been duly annotated and accepted by the UN.
As such, he added that the Philippines does not and never had any basis, historical or legal, to make a claim on Sabah.
“It is regrettable that the Philippines has acted contrary to the ASEAN spirit and fundamental principle of mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity of each ASEAN member state.”
Separately, the owners of 5,978 country lease titles will benefit from a recent Sabah government decision to restore the 999-year lease on land titles, the State Land and Survey Department said.
The practice to reduce the lease period by 900 years was started during the 1990s – but the high court ruled in March 2020 that it was unlawful, department director Bernard Liew said.
He said the Sabah cabinet made the decision on June 2020 to rectify the mistake as well as to comply with the court ruling.
“We are rectifying it and will restore the lease period to its original term,” he said in a statement today.
“Our dept records showed that 5,878 CL land titles were affected,” Liew said, adding that the Cabinet decision applies only for those land titles with original 999 years but was reduced to 99 years after conversion/subdivision.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal announced in Nabawan on Saturday the plan to restore the 999-year lease.
Mohd Shafie said the Sabah Cabinet decision was in line with a March 8 high court decision which ruled the conditions set by the Land and Survey Department to reduce leasehold tenure from 999 years to 99 years for approval of development and subdivision was unlawful.
– Bernama