A BILL for a new ordinance that will elevate the Sarawak native court as an independent judicial system on par with the civil and shariah courts is in the works, Minister in the Premier’s Department John Sikie told the state legislative assembly today.

The bill could be tabled at the budget sitting of the state assembly at the end of the year, he added.

The Sarawak government in 2020 had engaged a group of consultants who recommended a repeal of the current Native Courts Ordinance 1992 and the Native Courts Rules 1993 in their final report in March this year, Sikie also said.

“The proposed transformation of the native courts would commence in earnest only after the new native courts ordinance has been passed.

“The outcome and recommendations will soon be presented to the state cabinet for consideration and approval,” he told the house.

Sikie said Sarawak natives have had their own legal system “since time immemorial” but the current form was formalised by Sir Rajah Charles Brooke through the General Council Order on October 11, 1870.

The Native Courts Ordinance 1992 and the Native Courts Rules 1993 currently in use is a consolidation of various orders and ordinances enforced during the Rajah’s reign, colonial period and the post-independence era.

“The native courts of Sarawak is part of the plural legal systems in Malaysia enshrined in the Federal Constitution under the Ninth Schedule, List IIA Item 13.

“In its current organisational structure, the native courts of Sarawak is a unit under the Premier’s Department,” Sikie said.

The Office the Chief Registrar of the Native Court was established on June 1, 1993 and it supervises all the gazetted 66 native courts’ registries throughout the state.

Sikie said currently, there are about 7,000 presiding officers of the native court, including one president of the native Court of Appeal, 57 ex-officio magistrates comprising all the Residents of the administrative divisions and all district officers, 19 Residents and district contract magistrates.

As of May 12, the number of registered cases in the native court was 15,954 cases, out of which 10,025 cases have been resolved.

The cases are on native customary rights (NCR) land disputes, breaches of native laws and customs and applications by non-natives to be a native. – May 24, 2022.