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Dato Gerald Rentap Jabu
KUCHING (May 9): A Bill to amend the Native Courts Ordinance is among the new Bills to be tabled in next week’s State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting, said Dato Gerald Rentap Jabu.
The Deputy Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development said that it will be tabled by Minister in the Premier’s Department Datuk John Sikie.
“Hopefully it can come through – it (the amendment) has been a long time coming. As a people’s elected representative, we expect all these (to materialise) to strengthen the rule of law especially among the natives in Sarawak,” he said.
However, Rentap could not reveal the other Bills to be tabled in the coming DUN sitting as he believed DUN Speaker Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar will have a press conference on it this Saturday.
“There will be a pre-council meeting this Saturday morning. I am sure after that Tan Sri Speaker will have a press conference after the meeting. You have to wait for that,” he said.
According to a previous news report on May 24, 2022, a Bill to repeal the current Native Courts Ordinance 1992 and Native Courts Rules 1993 and replace them with a new ordinance was originally scheduled to be tabled at the DUN last November.
The transformation of the Native Courts and its elevation into an independent judicial system equivalent to the Shariah and civil courts would commence after the new Native Courts Ordinance has been passed in the state assembly.
It was also previously reported that the state government has engaged a consultant to conduct a comprehensive study to determine the current relevance of the Native Courts to meet the rising expectation of stakeholders in today’s digitalisation and globalisation era.
Outgoing Chief Registrar Datu Michael Dawi Alli was quoted in a news report on April 4 as saying the transformation of Native Courts of Sarawak is now a few steps closer to being realised.
The DUN sitting from May 15-24 is the first meeting of this year for the current DUN term and will be declared open by Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.
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