Judge in NCR land claims recuses himself
MIRI: A High Court judge yesterday recused himself from hearing the ongoing trial involving claims of Native Customary Rights land at Kampung Padang Kerbau, here.
Judge Datuk Lee Hieng Cheong decided this after allowing an application by counsel Dominique Ng
Ng told reporters outside the court that he had filed an application to High Court Judge for Sabah and Sarawak, Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, to recuse the judge on the grounds that he ( Lee) had been quite aggressive and emotional when hearing the case since March 1.
Ng said he was happy with the decision although no decision had been made on who would take over from Lee.
“What is important now is that at the end of his ruling, even though he rejected all of my grounds for his recusal as baseless... among other things, he rejected my application without cost but on his own motion which he can recuse himself as judge and I respect him for that,” Ng said.
Ng was also thankful that Lee did not cite him for contempt of court although he had the power to do so.
“We are going to put the past behind us and I believe we have a very strong case in Padang Kerbau,” he said, adding that they had documents to support their claims involving 214.73 hectares of land between Padang Kerbau and Miri-Pujut road.
In the trial, the claimants named Pantai Bayu Indah Sdn Bhd, Superintendent of Land and Survey Miri, the state government and another company as fi rst, second, third and fourth defendants respectively.
Hearing for the case was fixed for March 1 – 9, and March 14 – 15.