KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Malaysia has stopped paying the cession money of RM5,300 a year through lawyers representing the nine heirs of the Sulu Sultanate since 2013, says Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

He said the payments were made based on a treaty signed on Jan 22, 1878, between the then Sultan of Sulu, Sultan Jamal Al Alam and Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent of the British North Borneo Company.

"Apart from the payments to the heirs of the Sulu Sultanate, Malaysia has never made any payment to the Philippine government,” he said in a written reply to Chang Foon Hin (PH-Kota Kinabalu), uploaded on the Parliament website today.

Chang wanted to know if the government planned to stop paying the cession money of RM5,300 per year to the Sulu Sultanate through the Philippine Government as a measure to end foreign interference in Malaysia’s sovereignty, and instead utilise the money to solve the issue of illegal immigrants entering Sabah from the Philippines.

Hishammuddin said Malaysia also did not recognise and entertain any claim by any party over Sabah, as the state had been recognised as being part of Malaysia by the United Nations (UN) as well as the international community.

According to him, Malaysia and the Philippines have an understanding that the claim over Sabah will not be raised at any regional or international platform.

"Until now, the claim on Sabah has only been raised by those who claim to be descendants of the Sulu Sultanate,” he said. — Bernama