of "full security and protection" when it formed the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. In addition, former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman told the Philippines to back off from continuing its claim over the state and to cease any agendas relating to Sabah and its internal politics. Similarly, former Malaysia foreign minister Anifah Aman, who is also a Sabahan, criticised Locsin for his statement. Alleged December 2021 plot The South China Morning Post reported that an elected official of Sulu province organised a meeting on December 2021, attended by mayors of Sulu; it was alleged that there was a plan to organise a 600-personnel "Royal Sulu Army" to organise an armed takeover of the contested area in North Borneo. Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana dismissed the alleged plot as fake news. The Philippine military in Sulu said that the allegation was without basis but confirmed that local officials organised a meeting where they discussed bolstering maritime security in the area. Seizures of Malaysian foreign assets Malaysia stopped the annual payment of RM 5,300 cession money to the heirs of the Sulu Sultanate after the 2013 Lahad Datu standoff, despite being unable to prove a link between the 2013 Lahad Datu militants and the descendants of the Sultanate of Sulu. Former prime minister of Malaysia Najib Razak defended his government's move, stating that Jamalul Kiram III, one of the claimants of the Sulu throne, launched the attack in 2013. The Malaysian government initiated a suit against the supposed descendents of the Sulu Sultanate in March 2017 at the Kota Kinabalu High Court. In March 2020, the court ruled that Malaysia was the proper venue to resolve the dispute on the non-payment of cession money and the 1878 Deeds of Cession as there was no binding agreement between the Malaysian government and the heirs of the Sulu Sultanate that compels either party to submit an arbitration in an event of dispute. After that, the daughter of Jamalul Kiram III, Sheramar Kiram, initiated proceedings of a commercial arbitration in November 2017 against the government of Malaysia at the Madrid High Court in Spain. When the heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu filed claims in February 2018, Malaysia did not send any representatives there to dispute the claim. Malaysia did not participate or intervene in any of the proceedings except between 25 October 2019 and 18 November 2019 and 5 July 2021. Najib defended