KOTA KINABALU: Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Schramm Cayetano has clarified that Manila is not involved in recent statements on issues pertaining to the claim on Sabah.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said Cayetano made the clarification to him when they met at the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Singapore recently.
Anifah who was met after hosting a dinner for the Chinese community in his Kimanis constituency on Friday night also said that his counterpart from the Philippines approached him with the clarification.
“I did not raise the matter on the Sabah claim saying that such claims were never recognised by Malaysia and the Sabah state government. But Cayetano approached me to clarify the matter and made it clear that it was not the Philippine’s government’s stand.
“He explained that it was because of politics (as) someone is trying to promote himself,” he said, adding that the Philippine Foreign Secretary did not mention any name.
“He (Cayetano) was saying Malaysia and the Philippines enjoy a good bilateral relation, so we do not want one statement to make our relationship go sour.
“I just said thank you very much and we fully appreciate the clarification,” Anifah said.
Meanwhile on the latest development pertaining to Sabah’s rights in the Malaysia Agreement 1963, Anifah said that the findings would be presented to the Prime Minister and cabinet by the end of this month.
“It is very encouraging when the Attorney General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali said ĄĨI think you have a case here but let me study this. So I have requested that we must be able to present to the Prime Minister and therefore the Cabinet by end of February. We will have to keep that dateline and keep following up on the issues.”
Anifah said that MySabah, an non-political organisation he chairs, had made some headway with the federal attorney-general (AG) on reviewing Sabah’s rights within the Malaysian federation.
“The State Attorney General, the State Special Tasks Minister Datuk Teo Chee Kang and other lawyers are discussing it in detail.”
Anifah has been vocal about reinstating Sabah’s rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963, particularly the return of a 40 per cent revenue which was provided for in the agreement.