Malaysia has classified one of the self-styled descendants of the sultanate of Sulu as a terrorist, as part of measures to safeguard national sovereignty amid a territorial dispute between the two parties.

The home ministry gazetted Muhammad Fuad Abdullah Kiram as a terrorist under the country’s anti-money laundering and terrorism laws, Khairul Dzaimee Daud, director-general in the law ministry, told reporters on Tuesday. 

The person is one of the Sulu group’s eight members claiming to be the heirs of the Sulu sultan, Khairul said. 

The claimants secured a 62.59 billion ringgit ($14.2 billion) award against Malaysia in 2022 over their territorial claims to the Borneo state of Sabah. Last month, a court in Paris dismissed a bid by the Sulu group to enforce the award by upholding Malaysia’s stay on the enforcement of the order.

The approach now “is to go on the offensive” against the Sulu heirs’ claim, a change from the previous approach of “firefighting,” Khairul said. Malaysia’s home minister would also visit the four countries — France, Spain, Luxembourg and the Netherlands — involved in the arbitration of the case, he said. 

The Sulu Sultanate leased Sabah state to a British company in 1878 and the Borneo state was later absorbed into Malaysia. They ruled the islands in the Sulu Archipelago, which are parts of Mindanao in today’s Philippines.  – BLOOMBERG