SABAH RCI Self-proclaimed Sabah sultan Mohd Akjan Ali Muhammad today claimed he had set up meetings between two former Malaysian prime ministers and the Sulu sultanate.

Testifying before the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on immigrants in Sabah, Akjan said the two former prime ministers were Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also known as Pak Lah.

NONE “Since the 1970s (self-proclaimed Sulu sultan) Jamalul Kiram ( left ) sought my help. I helped him to meet Mahathir in the 1980s but I did not know what they discussed.

“After that, Ismail Kiram (Jamalul’s brother) came to meet Pak Lah,” he told the RCI at the Kota Kinabalu Court Complex this morning.

Akjan said he had agreed to set up the meeting on condition that they would relinquish their claim on Sabah.

“But by the 2000s, their objective appeared to have changed and they wanted to claim Sabah at the International Court of Justice,” he said.

Jamalul later ordered an incursion into Sabah in February this year, leading to the deaths of nine members of the Malaysian security forces, the worst losses since the Communist insurgency.

Akjan, who has three wives and 28 children, had before this been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for 30 months until 1997.

NONE He was accused of assisting foreigners to illegally obtain Malaysian citizenship when he was the Bajau-Suluk Association secretary-general.

However, Akjan ( left ) denied this, stating that all he did was to help aspiring citizens to fill up application forms.

"Many of them couldn't read and write well so I helped them to field the application forms, that is all.

"Whether they get blue identity cards or not is up to the government to decide," he said.

Akjan, who was a long-time Umno member until he quit in 2011, is the 198th witness to take the stand at the RCI since it began hearing in January.