Sikie: Drafts of Bills for Native Courts restructuring submitted to State AG

KUCHING (Nov 18): The drafts for the proposed Bills required for the Native Courts restructuring exercise have been submitted to the State Attorney General, said Dato Sri John Sikie Tayai.

The Minister in the Sarawak Premier’s Department said the Bills are the New Native Courts Bill and the New Native Courts Judges Appointment Council and Native Courts Judges Remuneration Bill.

“Our focus for the restructuring now is on the introduction or amendment of state laws, which are state matters.

“The New Native Courts Bill is to replace the current Native Courts Ordinance 1992 and New Native Courts Rules to replace the current Native Courts Rules 1993.

“The New Native Courts Judges Appointment Council and Native Courts Judges Remuneration Bill will be on the appointment and scheme of service for Native Court Judges,” he said in his ministerial winding-up speech at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly here today.

He said the Native Courts will continue to operate as usual under the current laws, until the new Bills are passed in the august House.

Sikie noted the restructuring will be implemented in three phases over several years.

For the initial phase, he said the basic requirement for the restructuring is the proposed enactment of new state laws and amendment to existing laws.

“For the elevation of its status however, the amendment to several federal laws under Parliament would be necessary and these would be initiated under Phases 2 and 3 of the transformation programme,” he added.

Meanwhile, he said the transformation of the Native Courts will result in changes to the structure or hierarchy as well as the organisational structure of the Native Courts and its modus operandi as a judicial institution.

Consequently, he said the Native Courts will adopt new rules and procedures for its operations.

“Under the proposed restructuring of the Native Courts, the hierarchy of our Native Courts will comprise of two layers which is the Native Subordinate Court and the Native High Court.

“Under the Native Subordinate Court, there will be the Native Magistrates’ Court as a court of first instance while the Native High Court will involve three layers namely the Native High Court, the Native Court of Appeal and the Native Supreme Court as the apex court.

“This means to say that there will be a new and higher court structure as the apex court under the proposed restructuring exercise,” he said.

On the performance of the Native Courts in settling cases, Sikie said as of October this year, 12,878 cases (69 per cent) of the total 19,225 registered cases had been settled with 6,347 (31 per cent) outstanding.

On the number of unsettled cases, 155 were cases involving land compensation amounting to RM6.916 million.

“As is the case in the last few years, the settlement of most cases at the Resident and District Native Courts were mainly presided by circuit Magistrates,” he said.