Kurup said the claim that 127.3ha of the island now belongs to Indonesia is inaccurate and inconsistent with official bilateral records.

He said the land boundary on Pulau Sebatik is governed by the 1891 Boundary Convention and was later clarified through joint technical surveys and decades of negotiations between Malaysia and Indonesia.

Both governments agreed on a final boundary settlement in October 2018, with joint survey work carried out in 2019 before the agreement was formalised through a memorandum of understanding in February 2025, he said.

“The realignment of the boundary on Pulau Sebatik was implemented as part of a package together with boundary realignment at Sungai Sinapad and Sungai Sesai, where Malaysia gained an additional 780ha of territory previously within Indonesian territory, now under Malaysia.

“As a result of the Sebatik realignment, Malaysia gained an additional 5ha, while 123ha within Malaysia were transferred to Indonesia,” he said in a statement.

He said the agreement was formalised through a memorandum of understanding signed between Malaysia and Indonesia on Feb 18, 2025.

Kurup also said the Sabah government had been consistently involved at every stage of technical and diplomatic negotiations through representatives from the chief ministers’ department, the state Attorney-General’s Chambers, and the state land and survey department.

“The ministry stresses that the entire process was carried out based on mutual agreement between both countries, in accordance with international law, and does not involve any principle of compensation, reciprocity, or gain-loss considerations,” he said.

The clarification comes after Indonesian news agency Antara quoted presidential chief of staff Muhammad Qodari as saying the republic’s territory had expanded by 127.3ha on Pulau Sebatik, North Kalimantan, following the completion of land boundary delimitation with Malaysia.

Muhammad reportedly said the land, previously under Malaysia, now legally belonged to Indonesia, while about 4.9ha along Indonesia’s former border had become part of Malaysia.

Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor had earlier also denied that the 127.3ha area had been handed over to Indonesia.

However, Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia Iman Hascarya Kusumo said today the land in question remained a “grey area”, adding that discussions on its status have yet to be finalised.

Pulau Sebaik is located off the eastern coast of Borneo, split between Indonesia and Malaysia.