Lawyers to earn credit hours before renewing PC
KUCHING: Local lawyers may have to earn credit hours from various advocacy seminars to get their practising certificate (PC) renewed.
Chief Judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum said he hoped to make the ruling compulsory by 2018.
He said he would have to deliberate the matter with both the Attorney Generals (AGs) of Sabah and Sarawak as well as the Sabah Law Association and Advocates’ Association of Sarawak before arriving at a final decision.
“It is still in discussion stage. I need to speak to the state AGs first and the associations. After that we will formulate the rules. Maybe 2018, we can refine it.
“It is good for lawyers to have courses. If they don’t attend a certain amount of hours in a year, then they won’t get the renewal. So it is good for the profession. But let me speak to the relevant stakeholders,” he said when met by journalists after opening the third advocacy skills seminar held at a hotel here yesterday.
Some 100 legal practitioners are attending the two-day course jointly organised by Legal Plus Sdn Bhd, Advocates’ Association of Sarawak, Malaysia Inner Temple Alumni Association and Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn Alumni Association, Malaysia.
Richard assured that he would make the decision based on a consensus.
“We will discuss and come up with a consensus. We’ve been talking about it quite a while, but there are pros and cons. I know in Australia, they want that to be done.”
Asked if similar policy had been implemented in Peninsular Malaysia, he said: “I don’t know. I’m not sure about that.”
He pointed out that the proposed move would help practitioners in the industry to improve their standard.
He was also confident that practising lawyers would agree to introduce and implement the proposal.
From Adenan’s speech, it was clear he still believed that OT had been halved while according to Sapuan, as of Jan 12 2016, there were still 102 valid OT and LA.
Guidelines on issuing licences not followed
Coincidentally, some reliable sources revealed between 2015 to 2016, about 30 OT were newly issued or renewed and 30 LA were granted.
“By mid-2015, the number of OT had been reduced to about 40 to 50 because of Adenan’s directive. However, after that, about 60 OT and LA were issued or renewed again. This is why by January 2016, there are still 102 valid OT and LA,” the source said.
It also revealed the present SFD did not follow the guidelines of issuing OT and LA, alleging there were times land of more than 100 ha were granted to LA while land of less than 100 ha were granted to OT.
In view of the situation, one cannot help but ask has Sarawak been successful in combating corruption and illegal logging as claimed by Adenan?
The new case on Nov 24 this year, involving the land of Pang Junan People’s Association (PJPA) in Kanowit, gave Sarawakians reason to have a second thought.
PJPA members, comprising 108 families, were originally from Ulu Ngemah area but forced to resettle at Nanga Ngungun, Nanga Jagau and Nanga Sekuau Resettlement areas during the communist insurgency in the 1970’s.
PJPA had resorted to contacting the media after a timber firm obtained a licence to fell tree in their land in Ulu Ngemah, Kanowit.
PJPA chairman Entili Garaji said the licence was issued on Nov 2, 2016 with an expiry date of Nov 1, 2017.
The area, identified as Spali Ulu Ngemah Land District, covering a total of 4,263 hectares of native customary rights (NCR) land belong to members of the association.
“PJPA found out just recently from a community leader in Ulu Ngemah that a company would carry out its operations in
Spali, Lakan, Junan, Ulu Ngemah up to Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary in the area. We also found out the company will bring its machinery to the area on Jan 4 next year.
“As NCR land owners in the area, we have never granted permission to such company and are strongly against the company operating there,” Entili Garaji told the media on Nov 23.
He claimed the persons dealing with the company were not owners of the land affected and the community had, thus, lodged a police report in the hope an investigation would be initiated.
Before he brought the case to the public, Entili, in the company of community leader Ngemah Ili and Penghulu Ambrose Pengiran Sampai, had sought advice and clarification from the Forestry Department’s Sibu Regional Office on the matter.
He was surprised to find out that timber licences were still being issued despite what Adenan had said on numerous occasions that such licences would no longer be given out by the government.
Doubts over validity of stakeholders’ consent
In response, Sapuan said the department “is only processing applications for areas which have been perimeter-surveyed and gazetted as NCR land officially by the Land and Survey Department and after obtaining the approval of all land owners.”
This is not true. There are confirmed cases where other stakeholders are not involved while the perimeter-surveyed was being carried out leading to confusion, conflicts and distrusts among parties concerned.
Sapuan added that the applicant was required to fulfil all the conditions laid down and submitted the supporting documents required by SFD based on the criteria and checklists before processing the application, and in this case, the applicant had received the support of the ketua kaum or community leaders as well as local residents, led by a penghulu for the area.
He also said the applicant had forwarded minutes of meetings, the approval letter by all land owners, subject to gazette notice and certified copies of identity cards. The applicant had also submitted a statutory declaration that all documents were complete and valid, and the document had been approved by the Commissioner of Oath, he pointed out.
Sapuan said the area applied for, covering 4,800ha, was under the jurisdiction of a community leader and the SFD had issued a licence (presumably OT) to the applicant after reviewing all documents submitted.
“However, if there are protests or disputes from land owners or other residents, the department will suspend operations or revoke the licence,” he added.
Sapuan’s willingness to revoke the licence in the face of protests from the people showed that the exercise of obtaining consent from the people could be subjected to abuse and SFD’s admittance that the consent of the people could be false.
It raised questions whether the existing conditions are too lax or there is no check balance in ascertaining the validity of the consent thus leading to doubts over the legality of the whole process.
Entili’s surprise is shared by many Sarawakians. While we all have believed things are getting better, the SFD’s figures seem to show otherwise.
It is, thus, the wish of the people in the state to call to Adenan’s attention what is really happening on the ground and for the state government to come out with a more effective mechanism to safeguard the rights of land owners and also protect the whole timber industry.