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PRESS
RELEASE
Kuala
Lumpur, 2 December 1998
PBS
: Solve Shortage of High Court Judges in Sabah
Kuala
Lumpur, Wed. - Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) today urged the Federal
government to appoint additional High Court judges in Sabah to solve
the huge backlog of cases pending to be heard by the courts.
Member
of Parliament for Bandau, Dr. Maximus Ongkili, said there are presently
only two High Court judges in Sabah – one based in Kota Kinabalu
and the other in Sandakan, while the Tawau High Court has been without
a judge for several years.
Debating
the 1999 budget allocation at the committee stage for the Human
Resources Ministry in parliament, Dr Ongkili said the government
must plan systematically its manpower requirements especially the
government sector so that the public administrative machinery can
function properly to serve the people.
"There
is clearly a shortage of High Court judges in Sabah. Now the government
has further decided to reduce the Kota Kinabalu High Courts from
the present two to one High Court by closing one registry. Apparently,
the reason is the shortage of cases. This should not happen because
there is actually a huge backlog of cases for both High Courts,"
he stressed.
The
PBS deputy president claimed that the Kota Kinabalu High Court I
presently has at least 500 cases pending to be heard with the backlog
dating back to 1985, while High Court 2 has a total of 803 backlog
cases and increasing daily.
"Clearly
there are no reasons to close one registry. The two High Courts
should be maintained and more judges should be appointed for Sabah,"
he argued.
It
is known that the Sandakan-based High Court judge has been helping
to dispose the backlog of cases in the Kota Kinabalu courts.
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