Govt to consider Sabah Court's land application

KOTA KINBALU: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan said the government will consider the Sabah Courts’ application for a land to build a new court building near the city centre here.

This is in view of the present Court’s offices that are crowded with limited parking spaces for employees and visitors.

The initial plan was to build a new court in Teluk Likas but due to the high cost of land reclamation and its rather distant location from the city centre, the Sabah Courts is considering among its alternatives to enlarge the administration offices and its surroundings at the present site in downtown area instead.

Pairin said this during an official visit to the Sabah Courts yesterday. He was representing Chief Minister Datuk Musa Haji Aman.

Pairin, who was also Minister of Infrastructure Development, was accompanied by Chief Judge of Sabah & Sarawak, Tan Sri Richard Malanjun and several other delegates in making his round at the High Court, Technology Court, Sessions Court and Magistrates Court.

The visit began with a 15-minute mock trial at the Open Court with the Court Recording Transcription (CRT) system in use, followed by a visit to the Technology Court where Pairin, along with Resource & Information Technology Minister Datuk Yee Moh Chai and Mayor Datuk Iliyas Ibrahim and several others were shown live video conferencing facilities that were connected to the Technology Courts in Tawau and Sandakan.

This was followed by a visit to the High Court’s registration counters and administration offices, as well as the registration counters at the Sessions Court and Magistrates Court.

Later at the Open Court, three briefings were given: ‘Sabah Courts Development & Administration’ by Sessions Court Judge Ismail Ibrahim; ‘Sabah Courts Operation’ by magistrate Noor Hafizah Mohd Salim; and ‘Integrated Court System (ICS) – Case Management System’ by High Court Judge Datuk David Wong Dak Wah.

Sessions Court Judge Ismail Ibrahim said among projects planned for this year are a three-storey Tawau Court (Annex Building) and circuit courts in Sipitang and Papar.

The circuit court in Kinabatangan is currently under construction and the new Ranau Court and Semporna Court are nearing completion.

In her briefing, magistrate Noor Hafizah said in order to improve work efficiency new steps have been introduced by the courts to enhance case handling, such as installing a computerised system and to clear cases that are pending via a tracking system and mediation.

She added that to improve public services, mobile court services were introduced on 22 March 2007 in the interior areas of Tuaran, Kota Belud, Ranau, Kudat and many others.

Services include hearing application for late registration of births and deaths, certification of documents, statutory declaration and traffic cases. A total of 2,915 cases were registered by the end of last year.

Justice David said to improve efficiency of courts in Sabah and Sarawak, the use of IT was introduced immediately after the appointment of Richard as Chief Judge of Sabah & Sarawak in 2006.

David said the Court Management System (CMS), which began operation in January 2009, has seen more than 56,965 cases registered and is currently used in the whole of Sabah Courts and Labuan.

Other application includes Integrated Community & Advocates Portal System (CAP), which has archieved case listings, E-Filing and SMS Services, among others.

Hearings via video and tele-conferencing system have saved time and costs for lawyers in Sabah, he added.

Meanwhile, Pairin said he hoped the technology that has been implanted will improve the efficiency of the courts.

Among guests who attended the event were State Attorney-General Datuk Roderick Fernandez, Majaps president Datuk Clarence Bongkos, Senior Federal Council Salim Soib@Hamid, Sabah Law Association president Datuk John Sikayun, Court Registrar Sabah & Sarawak Azahari Kamal Ramli and Registration Department director Jaafar Hendry.