KUALA LUMPUR - A ruckus broke out in the Malaysian Parliament on Monday (July 18) after motions to debate a Sulu claim on state oil company Petronas' assets and the Borneo state of Sabah were rejected by the Lower House speaker, citing sub judice.
The heated argument between Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun and several opposition MPs led to the speaker leaving his seat and Ms Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis, MP for Kota Belud, Sabah, being ejected from the House.
Deputy Speaker Mohd Rashid Hasnon, who took over the session, issued a two-day suspension against Ms Isnaraissah for failing to heed his warning to stop interrupting the House proceedings.
The MP had submitted an urgent motion to force the government to explain the seizure of two Petronas subsidiaries in Luxembourg on behalf of heirs of the defunct Sulu sultanate on July 12.
According to the Financial Times, bailiffs in Luxembourg seized the holding companies and related assets that were valued at more than US$2 billion (S$2.8 billion).
Lawyers acting for the heirs had applied for Luxembourg to seize the assets to enforce an arbitration ruling by France in February, which ordered Malaysia to pay US$14.9 billion to the descendants of the Sulu sultan.
The heirs claim to be successors-in-interest to the last Sultan of Sulu on Mindanao island in the Philippines. The sultan entered a deal in 1848 with a British trading company over the use of his territory, now known as the Malaysian state of Sabah, in exchange for financial compensation.
Malaysia took over the arrangement after independence from Britain in 1957, paying a token sum to the heirs annually. But this stopped in 2013 after an armed intrusion by an army claiming to be from the sultanate, with Malaysia arguing that Sabah was part of its territory.
On July 12, the Paris Court of Appeal allowed an application by Malaysia for a stay order after finding that enforcement of the award could infringe its sovereignty.
Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob in March vowed to fight the court ruling, saying his government would not entertain anyone's claim over the state.
During the Lower House session on Monday, Ms Isnaraissah pressed for the matter to be discussed even after Mr Azhar turned off her microphone and continued with the order of business.
"Speaker, you have rejected my motion in the Dewan Rakyat on the Sulu claim for the third time. You don't care because it is Sabah?" she asked. "This is about our sovereignty. How can you not see this?"
Mr Azhar said the issue had been discussed at length previously.
"Everyone knows what is going on with regard to the disposal of these assets. Then on the matter of it being subjudicial, the law clearly states that it is (subjudicial) because there are one or two ongoing proceedings still," he said.
"The Standing Orders are very clear about this so I have to enforce it."
Ms Isnaraissah's ejection from the House prompted a shouting match between MPs on both sides of the political divide, and some tried to prevent her from being escorted out.
Mr Mohd Rashid said that Ms Isnaraissah could still submit an appeal.
"What guarantee do we have that you won't reject it again? I want a ruling now. Decide a date so we can debate this," she said.
