Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Law Society (SLS) has called for greater accountability, constitutional awareness and decisive law reform, warning that ritual without reflection risks entrenching inertia within the legal system.
Its President Datuk Mohamed Nazim Maduarin said the Opening of the Legal Year should go beyond ceremony and serve as a moment for the legal profession to assess what works, what has failed and what must change.
He stressed that the SLS engages with national and international legal bodies on the basis of equality, noting that Sabah’s role within the Malaysian legal framework is grounded in statute, not perception.
Nazim said recent amendments to the Legal Profession Act, including recognition of Sabah and Sarawak representation on the Legal Profession Qualifying Board, merely acknowledged an institutional reality that had long existed.
He added that a High Court decision in Sabah in October 2025 reaffirmed judicial independence and the courts’ duty to uphold the Constitution, particularly in long-neglected matters concerning Sabah’s constitutional rights, including financial and federal–state obligations.
The SLS, he said, would continue to advance and explain Sabah’s constitutional entitlements as a matter of law rather than politics, through public education, research and constitutional advocacy.
On law reform, Nazim criticised repeated delays in updating outdated legislation, citing the Land (Subsidiary Title) Enactment 1972 and the Town and Country Planning Ordinance.
He pointed to the long-delayed establishment of the Appeal Board under the planning law and the slow implementation of digital governance provisions under the Electronic Government Activities Enactment 2014 as areas where immediate action could be taken.
Nazim also highlighted Sabah’s Climate Change and Carbon Governance Enactment 2025, which affirms state carbon rights and provides for indigenous consultation, as an example of enacted reform awaiting disciplined implementation.
He said labour law amendments passed in 2025 reflected the pressures of an ageing workforce, noting that flexible work arrangements and broader statutory protections were essential to sustaining Sabah’s emerging “silver economy”.
On professional standards, Nazim said the SLS would continue regulating its members under the Advocates Ordinance and review its own rules to ensure professional conduct and public trust keep pace with changing realities.
He concluded that institutions endure not through rhetoric or ceremony, but through structure, memory and continuity, adding that the SLS would continue to act deliberately and institutionally in the year ahead.
Nazim also announced that Sabah will host the Asean Bar Leaders Summit in 2027, saying the state will do so not merely as a courtesy venue, but as a regional legal actor trusted to convene, contribute and lead.
