KOTA KINABALU - The Native Court system needs to be urgently
revamped in its administrative role and functions to make it purely
non-political and adhere strictly to the requirement of native non-Muslim adat
or custom.
Former SAPP Sepanggar Member of Parliament-cum-adat administrator
Datuk Eric Majimbun in proposing this said he fully supported Chief justice of
Malaysia, Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, that the post of native court judge or
native chief should be given to those trained for the job and that politicians
should not be involved in appointing them.
“The Native Court must be purely non-Muslim, managed by
non-Muslim native officers appointed in accordance to their training and long
experience in the administration of adat," said Majimbun, who was a
district chief of Kota Kinabalu for 17 years from 1987 to 2004.
"It makes no sense to have a district officer from the
Muslim community who never grew up within the atmosphere of Momogun customs and
tradition.
"The case of such a district chief conducting the trial
in native marriage conflicts and land disputes, and signing to proclaim decisions
on such matters is not right," Majimbun said, in a statement.
He said while the practice has been going on for a long
time, the new generation of Momoguns today have voiced their disagreement, even
expressing their sense of being culturally usurped.
Majimbun said there was even a case of a district chief who
could not speak his mother tongue, a situation which raises the question about his actual understanding of his community's customs and tradition".
He also said that because of the entrenched need to replace
all politically-appointed native court leaders and ketuas kampong, "we now
have a very serious case of native court malfunction due to the long delay in
the appointment of new political supporters to replace those who were summarily
terminated after the last election.
"We cannot afford to have this happening after every
change of government, "he said.
He also said the native court must no longer continue to be
a convenient avenue for rewarding political supporters. He said otherwise there
would be the tendency to appoint non-qualified, non-trained, adat leaders
appointed almost purely for their political support.
As for the establishment of BORIIS, Majimbun, lauded it as
an excellent move for the study of Momogun affairs. However he feels a proper
discussion about which body or bodies to collaborate with the chief Minister's
Department in the appointment of native court officers needs to be held because
there are also other Momogun NGOs who have long experience in the matter of
adat and should be involved in the process to reformat the Native court.
At the signing of the Malaysia Agreement in 1963, the
colonial administration left native Muslim affairs in the care of late Tun
Mustapha and non-Muslim affairs under late Donald (later Tun Fuad) Stephens
while Chinese affairs under the SCA led by late Datuk Khoo Siak Chew.
This was also reflected in their appointments to the
Legislative Council as the colonial administration recognised that both the non-Muslim
natives and the Muslim natives had their respective roles to lay.
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