The Sarawak Advocates Ordinance needs to be amended to protect the interest of Sarawak under the federal constitution and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 which prohibit non Sarawakians to practise law in Sarawak if they have no Sarawak connection or if they failed to comply with the necessary requirement of the law.

We cannot open floodgates for foreign lawyers from countries like Australia, United Kingdom, Singapore and United States besides those from Malaya, to come in to practise law as resident lawyers in Sarawak.

What would happen if they just open a small office manned by a clerk or by modern technology and will not physically be in Sarawak but operating from overseas?

There is a need to protect the rice bowl of our children and future generations because we do not have the resources to compete with foreigners.

My appeal case yesterday before the Court of Appeal of Malaysia is a controversy that attracts much public interest in which the GPS government needs to take seriously.

The Court of Appeal ruled that I have no locus standi to intervene the application of YAA Tan Sri Richard Malanjum and YAA Tan Sri David Wong Dak Wah. Both of them are my friends and I have nothing personal against them when I sought to intervene.

The court ruled that only the Sarawak Advocates Association (AAS) and the Sarawak Government which is represented by the Sarawak Attorney General Chambers (SAG) and no other have the right to appear in court when lawyers outside Sarawak seek admission to practise law in Sarawak.

Not all lawyers in Sarawak are members of the Sarawak Advocates Association. The GPS government needs to seriously look into this because there is protection under the federal constitution and under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 to restrict practitioners who are not Sarawakian to practise law in Sarawak.

What would happen when the AAS and/or SAG make a mistake and fail to object to the application of lawyers who do not have Sarawak connections or failed to fulfill the requirements of the law? May the Sarawak Advocates Ordinance be amended by the GPS government to give better protection to our further generations before influx of foreign lawyers come in to take rice bowls of our kids away.

Voon Lee Shan
President,
Parti Bumi Kenyalang

18 February, 2022