THE native court system in East Malaysia should be given the same standing as the civil and shariah courts, Bernama quoted Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak, Richard Malanjum as saying yesterday.

He said this would raise the standard of the judicial system in dealing with the customs of the indigenous people.

“Native laws should be dealt with in a native court, not in a civil court or in the shariah court.

“The natives know better about their customs, they know better about their native land than outsiders,” he said on the sidelines of a legal seminar on “Justice and Rights – The Way Forward” in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.

Malanjum said putting the native courts parallel with the other court systems in the country would give them the independence they should have when hearing cases.

“At the moment, the native courts are being overseen by state executives. That cannot be right.” He said a paper on raising the standard of the native courts was being drafted by the Attorney-General’s (AG) Chambers, and he hoped there would be progress would on this matter under the current AG Mohamed Apandi Ali.

Malanjum also hoped that the Sabah State Native Affairs Council (MHEANS) would include non-Muslim members, as most of the indigenous people of Sabah are non-Muslims and guided by their customs as a way of life.

Former AG Abdul Gani Patail said he believed that the AG’s Chambers was still looking into elavating native courts, but it required some time.

He said although the native court system was in the Federal Constitution, it lacked a proper structure like the civil and shariah courts, which was why there was a need to strengthen native courts. – May 30, 2017.