The government has sent a protest note to the Philippine government over claims by the newly-installed Sultan of Sulu in the southern Philippines to Sabah, said Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.

Syed Hamid added he had directed his ministry on Friday to dispatch the note to the Philippine Foreign Ministry following a proposal by the Sultan to forward the claim on Sabah to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

"Sabah's sovereignty within Malaysia and as part of the country's territory cannot be uprooted or overturned, to be decided upon by the International Court of Justice," Syed Hamid was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

Sabah was recognised as part of Malaysia when the case of Sipadan and Ligitan islands off Borneo was decided by the ICJ, he pointed out. The court ruled that the islands belonged to Malaysia and not Indonesia.

The United Nations also recognises Malaysia as comprising the Malay peninsula plus Sabah and Sarawak, he said.

One of the new sultans of Sulu, Rodinood Julaspi Kiram II, 55, has pledged to renew a claim to Sabah after he was crowned in Manila as the 29th sultan of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo.

Rodinood said the sultanate would seek the help of the Philipine government to bring the case to the ICJ.

Going nowhere

Syed Hamid expressed confidence that such efforts would be futile.

"It will get nowhere. In terms of international law, Sabah is within Malaysia's territory and sovereignty," he said adding that the issue would not affect relations between Kuala Lumpur and Manila.

Rodinood crowned himself last Sunday but several others have claimed that he is not the direct descendent of the Sultan of Sulu.

The Sultanate of Sulu obtained Sabah from the Sultanate of Brunei in the 18th century as a gift for helping put down a rebellion.

The British later leased Sabah and transferred control of the territory to Malaysia when it was federated in 1965.