By Puteri Balkish
GOMBAK, 5 October 2017: IIUM President, Tan Sri Dr. Rais Yatim, on Tuesday (3 October) called on the judiciary and the legal profession to fittingly establish the Malaysian Common Law through a duality of legal-judicial communication using the national language (Malay) as well as English in Malaysian courts.
In a thought-provoking memorial speech titled “What is So Common About the Common Law? Towards Malaysia’s Own Rule of Law System” at the Moot Court, AIKOL, Tan Sri Dr. Rais reckoned that the British and Malay people have had a long association in terms of history.
He therefore proposed a coherent study and a practice of Islamic thought and civilisation to be established to include the culture of budi in the Nusantara so as to localise the currently practiced common law.
“The laws alone cannot provide solutions to turmoil, devastations and chaos,” Tan Sri Dr. Rais said, as he spoke on his belief in Malaysia to have a future with our own common law and rule of law system.
The 75-year-old IIUM President, began his lecture by explaining about the colonisation of Tanah Melayu (Malaya) by the British then, which he said “had indirectly caused the implementation of their English law as ‘our’ common law”.
Tan Sri Rais explained that the Rukunegara is fundamental in the building of the nation by being “a socio-judicial yardstick in cases involving social appropriateness”.
“Law faculties in all public universities must be given the added responsibility of delving and finding as to how good or bad a law of the land or lex loci is from time to time,” he added as he went about ameliorating the laws of the country.
Tan Sri Rais also addressed the issues pertaining to the currently practiced laws in Malaysia and talked about his personal experiences as a law student under the late Professor Emeritus Ahmad Ibrahim.
Besides being the Special Advisor to the Malaysian government on socio-cultural matters, Tan Sri Dr. Rais had an extensive career in politics, and is a proficient lawyer. ***