UMS urged to introduce law program

KOTA KINABALU: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) has been strongly urged to introduce a law programme.

PAS Sabah legal advisor Hamid Ismail made the call as Sabahans who want to take law programme have to go to West Malaysia or outside Malaysia because such programme is not offered in any university in Sabah.

“By having a law programme in UMS, Sabahans could study here locally without having to spend costs on air travel to study law in West Malaysia or internationally. If law degree can be obtained here, that would be a great news to Sabahans who want to become lawyers. Sabah can produce great lawyers and judges. The obvious example of a Sabahan lawyer who has become a great judge is Tan Sri Richard Malanjum. He is currently the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak,” said Hamid in a statement yesterday.

Hamid was responding to the welcoming speech of UMS Vice Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr D Kamarudin D Mudin in the 7th International Conference on Law and Society at UMS where he disclosed that he had an earlier discussion with conference moderators who asked why UMS did not have law programme in Sabah.

Kamarudin replied that it was actually an interesting issue to discuss and he would like to mention that “we could not be starting something with a full programme maybe but we probably will find a way with our counterpart”.

He said that UMS could collaborate with the International Islamic University Malaysia or maybe other universities that have law programme.

Hamid said Malanjum had suggested, when launching the conference, that studies on indigenous laws should be looked into by UMS.

“I think the law programme could cover that as well. I, as a Sabahan, fully support the chief judge’s suggestion. From there, the indigenous law can be improved.

“Maybe UMS is unable to introduce the law programme this year or within two years. I understand that. But steps to achieve that goal must be taken now,” he said.