PAS candidate wants admission of Syarie lawyers in Sabah regulated

KOTA KINABALU: PAS Sabah candidate for Tanjung Aru, Hamid Ismail, wants something to be done about regulating the admission and ethics of Syarie lawyers in the state’s Syariah courts.

This is the first thing he would do if he wins in the 14th general election.

“I will demand from the new Sabah government the immediate enactment of regulations relating to admission and ethics of Syarie lawyers in Syariah courts in Sabah. All states in Malaysia have these rules and regulations except Sabah,” said Hamid.

According to him, he and fellow Syariah lawyer friends are unclear about the conditions and criteria for the admission of a Muslim lawyer to practise as a Syarie lawyer in Syariah courts.

“As far as we know, there is an interview conducted by the Syariah court which is then followed by a ceremony for admission to those who passed the interview. Prior to that, admission was based on the discretion of Sabah Syariah High Court or the Sabah Chief Syarie Judge,” he said and claimed that the method was open to abuse.

“What puzzles me most is the fact that the Syariah Courts Enactment 2004 has given the power to the Sabah State Chief Syarie Judge to make such regulations. Section 32(2) of that enactment clearly states so and the same provision was available in the former Syariah Courts Enactment 1995. But after more than 20 years, Sabah still does not have that regulation,” he stressed.

Hamid said the situation differed greatly from the civil courts where a lawyer applying to be admitted to the civil courts in Sabah must comply with the strict terms set out in the Advocates Ordinance (Sabah Cap. 2).

Any non-compliance of those terms or any of them will result in rejection of the application. Further, the High Court will fix a hearing date for the application whereby the Sabah Law Association and the State Attorney General’s office have the right to object application that breaches the term or on other grounds,” he said.

“I believe the strict terms are imposed to ensure only qualified persons are admitted to practise as lawyers in civil courts in Sabah. The native courts also have rules for admission of lawyers in their courts.

“Without the regulations relating to admission and ethics of syarie lawyers in Sabah, I fear that one of the safeguards concerning Sabah as mentioned in Malaysian Agreement 1963 will be breached whereby non-Sabahan syarie lawyers practising in the state will become rampant. The new government must therefore prevent this in view of Article 161B of the Federal Constitution,” Hamid pointed out.