KUCHING, Aug 27 — Sarawak will not compromise on the law affecting non-Sarawakian lawyers who wish to practise in the state, the state’s de facto law minister Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said.
“We are firm and will not give up any of our rights,” she said when contacted over concern that two non-local lawyers, who are said to have held high office in the judiciary before they retired, are applying to practise in the state.
However, Sharifah Hasidah, who is Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Law, State-Federal Relation and Project Monitoring), said all applications by non-Sarawakians to be admitted as advocates and solicitors would be considered objectively.
She said the authorities would take into consideration all factors including special circumstances and the decision would be left to the Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak after having heard all the circumstances.
Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan had yesterday filed an intervener application against the hearing of petitions of two prominent lawyers at the High Court here to be admitted as advocates in Sarawak.
Voon said in a statement that if the applications were allowed it would become a precedent for all lawyers in Malaysia and this would defeat the purpose and spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and derail the restoration of state rights.
Advocates Association of Sarawak (AAS) Kuching branch vice Chairman Liew Tang Chieh also said its Kuching branch had conveyed its stance to the AAS Central Committee that there must be strict compliance of Section 2 (2) (a), (b) or (c) of the Advocates Ordinance 1953.
The section basically states that only lawyers with Sarawak connection can practise in Sarawak, Liew said.
According to the ordinance a person shall be deemed to have Sarawak connections if he is born in Sarawak, has been a resident in Sarawak for a continuous period of five years or
more, or satisfies the Chief Justice that he is, at the time when the question of whether he has Sarawak connections is relevant, domiciled in Sarawak.
It is learnt that tomorrow former Chief Justice of Malaysia Tan Sri Richard Malanjum and former Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri David Wong Dak Wah or their local legal representatives will be appearing at the High Court here for the hearing of petitions for advocates admission. — Borneo Post Online
