KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today explained that he supported the decision made by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2013 to cease the annual cession payment to the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu following the incursion in Lahad Datu, Sabah.
Berita Harian reported that the former two-time prime minister, however, raised questions on whether the decision was made according to the provisions of law apart from fulfilling all the obligations to terminate the old agreement to avoid future dispute.
"At the time, Najib had said that he will not pay (the cession payment).
"And at the time, I had only supported his decision. (However), he was the one who had made such a decision.
"I was, however, told that the decision was not referred to the cabinet and the Dewan Rakyat (in 2013), and that he was making his own decision," Dr Mahathir said after a talk on the future of online teaching and learning here today.
Dr Mahathir, who is Langkawi member of parliament, is a panel member at the programme, which was organised by online education platform, PTTI.
When elaborating on the issue, Dr Mahathir said the government at the time should have carried out a comprehensive study including ascertaining that the terrorist responsible for the intrusion in Lahad Datu had indeed involved the Sultan of Sulu's heirs before coming to the decision to cease the cession payment.
"We should have conducted a study and ascertained if the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu were indeed responsible for the attack (on Lahad Datu).
"Only after that, we should have ceased the payment.
"This however was not the case. Without any study taking place, we ceased the payment,"
Dr Mahathir said because of that, those who claimed they are the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu had brought the matter to the international arbitration court.
"Because of that, we are facing this problem now. There was no such problem previously. Every year we made the payment.
"When we decided to cease the payment, they brought the matter to the (arbitration) court in Spain. We, however, did not recognise the (arbitration) court in Spain.
"Before a decision was made, both parties should present their submission to defend their position," said Dr Mahathir.
He also cited the case of Pedra Branca, in which Malaysia agreed with the parties who made such a claim and refer to the matter to court.
It was reported that assets of two Petronas subsidiaries in Azerbaijan were seized by bailiffs for the heirs of the now-defunct Sulu sultanate, who were claiming US$14.92 billion (RM62.59 billion) from Malaysia earlier this month.
Bernama, which quoted the Financial Times, reported that lawyers for the plaintiffs reportedly seized Petronas' assets registered in Luxembourg, namely Petronas Azerbaijan (Shah Deniz) and Petronas South Caucasus, with a reported value of over US$2 billion (RM8.8 billion).
Since then, Malaysian has been granted by the Paris Court of Appeal in France, a stay on the enforcement of the Final Award on claims by parties claiming to be heirs and successors-in-interest to Sultan Jamalul Kiram II.