KUCHING, June 14 — Community group Dayak National Congress (DNC) said today that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government should recommend Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum as the country’s top judge to demonstrate its sincerity towards the two Borneo states.
DNC president Paul Raja said the PH government should show that it does not sideline the two states when it comes to appointments to top government posts in the country.
He added that since the formation of Malaysia in 1963, no Sarawakian or Sabahan judge has been appointed as the chief justice.
“With the resignation of Tun Md Raus Sharif as chief justice on July 31, Malanjum is the most qualified person in the judiciary to take over,” he said.
Raja, who is a practising lawyer, claimed that Malanjum was passed over when Raus was appointed the chief judge on April 1, 2017.
Raja said with the introduction of the Institutional Reform Committee, it is only appropriate that the PH government should start with reforming the judiciary by appointing the Sabah-born Malanjum to be the chief judge.
He lamented that many national institutions created immediately after Merdeka have driven the nation into a single-race civil service.
“Sarawak and Sabah’s representativeness in the federal agencies is noticeably absent, even though Article 153(2) of the Federal Constitution requires that a reasonable proportion of positions in the civil service be reserved for officers from the two states,” he said.
“When it comes to the promotion of officers and civil servants, too often than not, Sarawak and Sabah’s officers are overlooked,” Raja said, adding that it is high time that the injustice done to Sabah and Sarawak be addressed by the PH government.
