Sabah History: Edward Weller a 19th century famous British Cartographer proves in his maps that Sabah, formerly known as “North Borneo,” has been under the territory of the Sultan of Sulu.
On January 22, 1878, the Sultan of Sulu, Sultan Mohammed Jamalul Alam, signed a Deed of Lease Agreement in favor of Gustavus Baron de Overbeck (an Austrian Consul General from Hong Kong) and Alfred Dent, giving the latter certain rights to his North Borneo (Sabah) territory.
On December 2, 1878, Alfred Dent applied for a Royal Charter from the British Government. Mr. Dent established the British North Borneo Provisional Association Limited (hereinafter, the British North Borneo Provisional Association) for it to apply to the British Government for a Charter of Incorporation of a company to be constituted for the management of the 1878 Agreement. On September 1, 1880, Mr. Overbeck relinquished all his rights in the affair to Mr. Dent.
On November 1, 1881, the British Government granted the Royal Charter and the British North Borneo Company was incorporated (hereinafter, British North Borneo Company). The the British North Borneo Provisional Association was dissolved and the British North Borneo Company started to operate in May 1882.
The November 1, 1881 Royal Charter, recognizes the Sultan of Sulu’s sovereignty over North Borneo in reciting that the powers of government granted to Overbeck by the Sultan of Sulu were only delegated. It also recognizes the fact that to England, North Borneo is an alien territory over which the British Crown may make provision for the exercise and regulation of British extra-territorial jurisdiction and authority.
On April 22, 1903, the Sultan of Sulu and the British North Borneo Company concluded a confirmatory deed of the 1878 Agreement (hereinafter, the 1903 Confirmatory Deed).
In 2018, due to breach of contract of 1878 Deed of Lease Agreement when the Malaysian government terminated the annual payment of lease over a large territory of the Sultan of Sulu in North Borneo (Sabah), the sultan’s heirs filed an arbitration case against the Malaysian government to the Spanish Arbitration Court in Spain. The court appointed Dr. Gonzalo Stampa as an arbiter. In February 2022, Dr. Stampa issued the award in a French arbitration court in Paris. The court has “instructed” the Malaysian government to pay US$14.92 billion to the descendants of Sultan Mohammed Jamalul Alam of Sulu.
According to judge Stampa, “The 1878 Deed of Lease Agreement is an international private lease agreement voluntarily entered into between a local ruler (Sultan of Sulu)…and international private investors (Gustavus Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent)…A cession of sovereign territory to private individuals or to a private entity is not possible under international law…whether deliberately or otherwise, the British rendered the operative Malay description of the contractual arrangement as…to grant and cede…this translation is quite simply wrong. A plethora of contemporary and modern sources show beyond doubt that the key term in 1878 lease agreement, Pajjakan, means to lease.”
In July 2022, the claimants moved to seize two Luxembourg-based units of Malaysian state oil firm Petronas (Petronas Azerbaijan and Petronas South Caucasus) as part of efforts to enforce the award.
The heirs of a late sultan have launched legal proceedings to seize as many as a dozen Netherlands businesses of Malaysian state oil company Petronas in a move set to further infuriate Kuala Lumpur.
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