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So Sri Richard Malanjum
KUCHING (September 15): Former Chief Judge Tan Sri Richard Malanjum has been admitted as a lawyer in Sarawak.
The presiding judge The chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim accepted Malanjum’s request after the Sarawak Association of Defenders (AAS) and the State Attorney General’s Office (SAG) did not object.
Malanjum and the former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri David Wong Dak Wah had filed petitions to be admitted as lawyers in Sarawak.
Wong’s request will be heard on October 8.
Malanjum, who retired as Chief Justice in April last year, and Wong, who retired in February this year, are both from Sabah.
During today’s court proceedings, Abang Iskandar also ruled that lawyer Voon Lee Shan did not have the locus standi to appear as intervener in the petitions.
Voon had filed the request because of concerns that if a petition to admit a non-Sarawakian as a defender or to practice in Sarawak is approved, it would open the floodgates for other peninsular Malaysian lawyers to establish offices in the state, thus defeating the targets. and spirit of the Malaysia Agreement of 1963.
After rejecting Voon’s application, Abang Iskandar awarded the applicants, AAS, and SAG cost of RM5,000 each.
Malanjum and Wong followed suit today by teleconference. They were represented by their lawyer Chong Siew Chiang.
When he met last Monday (September 7), Chong said that he would be proud and honored if these two former judges were admitted as lawyers in Sarawak.
Chong opined that the fear that the two former judges would take away the Sarawak lawyers business was too far-fetched, adding that their admission as defenders in Sarawak was not a violation of the state’s autonomy.
On the same day, Voon’s lawyer, Lim Heng Choo, emphasized that Voon requested to be an intervener in the petitions as he was concerned when his requests for the petitioners’ petition documents were rejected.
It had argued that legal professionals should not be excluded as interveners, although the Ordinance stated that only the SAG and the AAS would have the right to intervene.
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