Malaysia is once again in crisis after a court in Luxembourg issued a new confiscation order against two assets belonging to Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas).
This follows the move by the heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu to get a claim of $15 billion (RM66 billion) from the Malaysian government as decided by the French arbitration court last year.
Malaysia, which was not involved in the arbitration, still maintains that the process is invalid and illegal.
For information, the country had previously received a delay for the first claim by the heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu, who wanted to seize two Petronas-owned subsidiaries, namely Petronas Azerbaijan (Shah Deniz) and Petronas South Caucasus.
However, it does not mean that the country is saved because the decision can still be enforced in 165 countries under the United Nations (UN) arbitration agreement.
Meanwhile, Petronas in its latest statement insisted that the action was baseless and will continue to defend its rights in terms of the law.
Looking back on the history of the country, the action is closely related to the legal issue presented by the heirs of Sulu in 2017.
At that time, the heirs of Sulu demanded compensation for the land in Sabah that was said to have been leased by their ancestors to a British trading company in 1878.
Then in March, an arbitrator in France decided that Malaysia had to pay the heirs an amount of $15 billion.
