He said the Sulu case shows the need for Malaysia to be careful in dealing with such matters of national interest, especially when the so-called claimants are only motivated by money.
"And because we did not even entertain these baseless claims at that time, there was no question about the so-called Sulu heirs daring to initiate an arbitration," Anifah said, adding that they had no basis for it. Anifah said international arbitration processes should have the right balance between transparency, legitimacy and legality on the one part and flexibility on the other.
Anifah, who is the special advisor to the Chief Minister on international relations and foreign investments, said there can be no room for unilateralism. "So actually, I would hesitate to classify the Sulu case as an ‘international arbitration’, simply because Malaysia did not even agree to participate in the arbitral process," said Anifah.