The battle over the Sulu claim has exploded into one of Asia’s most dramatic and pricey legal fights.
A group of Filipino citizens claiming to be descendants of the old Sultanate of Sulu wants Malaysia to pay nearly $15 billion over an 1878 agreement involving land in Sabah. Flaring up in 2019, the once quiet historical issue turned into a years-long legal war stretching from Kuala Lumpur to Madrid to Paris. A final decision on the case is expected on December 9.
The case makes many Southeast Asians feel uneasy. Western funders, lawyers, and private companies seem to be using their courts to push a dispute between two Asian neighbors. Some say it feels similar to the 1MDB scandal, where Western financial players helped move money meant for Southeast Asia’s development into private hands.
This raises a simple question: why are European courts being used to demand billions of dollars from a country thousands of
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