• 'Loss of right' upsets lawyers in the east KOTA KINABALU: Sabah and Sarawak lawyers have voiced shock over a ruling that peninsula-based lawyers can represent cases originating from the two states when they come before the Court of Appeal.
The Advocates Association of Sarawak (AAS) and the Sabah Law Association (SLA) described the decision as taking away their rights to appear for cases originating from the two states by fixing the cases to be heard in peninsular Malaysia.
In a joint statement, SLA president Datuk John Sikayun and AAS president Frank Tang said the rights of Sabah and Sarawak lawyers were guaranteed under the Federal Constitution and could not be taken away by mere administrative action.
“AAS and SLA will bring the matter up with relevant authorities and if opportunity arises on an appeal to the Federal Court, we will ask to be heard on this issue,” the statement added.
The two bodies claimed the decision violated the Malaysia Agreement and eroded the sanctity and constitutional safeguards agreed between Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak in the formation of Malaysia.
They were reacting to a decision by a three-man Bench presided by Justice Datuk Gopal Sri Ram that peninsula-based lawyers can represent their clients in the appeals of cases that originated from Sabah and Sarawak if the case was heard in the Court of Appeal in any peninsula state.
In the ruling, Sri Ram said the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 empowered the Court of Appeal president to direct an appeal against any decision of the High Court of Borneo States of Sabah and Sarawak to be heard by appellate courts anywhere in the states of Malaya.
He made the ruling in a commercial case that originated from the Kuching High Court involving a suit by Datuk Ting Cheuk Sii against nine respondents under the Companies Act and winding-up petition.
Sri Ram held that Tommy Thomas, an advocate of the High Court in Malaya, could represent Ting in his appeal fixed for hearing next week.
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