THE Kuching High Court has deferred making a decision today on the application filed by a senior Sarawak lawyer to bar former chief justice Richard Malanjum from practising as an advocate in the state.

Judicial Commissioner Alexander Siew deferred as he had requested counsel for both parties, Voon Lee Shan and Malanjum, to tender further authorities on certain legal points before he makes a decision.

Siew has now set March 1 as a mention date and to fix a new date for his decision.

Voon, a pro-independence politician, filed an originating summons on November 20 last year to set aside the September 15 order of the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim to admit the Sabah-born Malanjum to the Sarawak roll of advocates so he could practise in the state.

The crux of Voon’s legal challenge is the Tuaran-born Malanjum’s “Sarawakian connection”. Under the terms of the Malaysia Agreement, non-Sarawak lawyers and those not born a Sarawakian, are barred from practising in the state.

However, there are a few exceptions to the rule.

The Sarawak advocates ordinance also states that non-Sarawakians who have lived in the state for five continuous years qualify for admission to the Bar.

Malanjum, when he was the chief judge of Sarawak and Sabah, held a permanent resident permit and had resided in the state for 25 years.

Voon in his November application said the admission order was in contravention of the Sarawak Advocates Ordinance 1953 and had sought a court declaration that the order handed down on September 15 last year was illegal, null and void.

He also sought a declaration that Malanjum’s name on the rolls of advocates in Sarawak was also illegal, null and void and that it be set aside.

Voon, who is president of Parti Bumi Kenyalang and is seeking a seat in the state assembly in the forthcoming state election, made his first attempt to bar Malanjum when he applied to be an intervener in former CJ’s application for admission.

Abang Iskandar rejected the application as he had no locus standi to object.

The law states that only the state attorney-general (SAG) and the Advocates Association (AAS) of Sarawak have the locus standi.

Both the SAG and AAS did not object to Malanjum’s admission application.

Voon had earlier said if Malanjum’s application was allowed, it would “open the floodgates for West Malaysian lawyers to practise in Sarawak”.

He said the September 15 decision had further eroded the state’s rights under the MA63 and will also pave the way for non-Sarawakian officers in the federal civil service to use the legal precedent to seek rights reserved for Sarawakians under the MA63. – January 28, 2021.