Sabah RCI: 'I arranged meet between Sulu sultanate and two PMs'

Self-proclaimed Sabah sultan Mohd Akjan Ali Muhammad today claimed he had set up meetings between two former Malaysian prime ministers and the Sulu sultanate.

Testifying before the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on immigrants in Sabah, Akjan said the two former prime ministers were Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also known as Pak Lah.

“Since the 1970s (self-proclaimed Sulu sultan) Jamalul Kiram sought my help. I helped him to meet Mahathir in the 1980s but I did not know what they discussed.

“After that, Ismail Kiram (Jamalul’s brother) came to meet Pak Lah,” he told the RCI at the Kota Kinabalu Court Complex this morning.

Akjan said he had agreed to set up the meeting on condition that they would relinquish their claim on Sabah.

“But by the 2000s, their objective appeared to have changed and they wanted to claim Sabah at the International Court of Justice,” he said.

Jamalul (right) later ordered an incursion into Sabah in February this year, leading to the deaths of nine members of the Malaysian security forces, the worst losses since the Communist insurgency.

By Nigel Aw