KUCHING: A four-day training programme, ‘Effective Execution of Legal and Statutory Functions in Resident and District Office (R&DO)’ which began on Monday (March 26), saw a total of 30 participants at the training programme on legal competencies.
In a press statement issued yesterday, the Leadership Institute stated that it was necessary for Sarawak civil servants, especially Residents, District Officers and Sarawak Administrative Officers, who have judicial rights to perform legal and statutory roles and duties as provided under relevant State Acts and Ordinances to be legal adepts.
“Familiarise yourself with the process or the flow in the court proceedings, and be in control when conducting the court proceedings,” said senior state legal counsel, Joseph Chioh, who is one of the facilitators of the programme.
Delivering a session at the training, Joseph reminded that a sentence must be given with grounds and the need to must justify the grounds to give a sentence to the accused.
“Always remember, a suspect is always innocent until proven guilty, so we must never go into assuming to become a good magistrate,” said Joseph.
The course was a first of its kind this year, for government officers to learn about legal and statutory duties assigned to administrative officers serving in Resident and District Office in the State.
“It is my hope that participants will be able to enhance greater awareness, understanding and knowledge on relevant statutes related to the powers and duties of Administrative Officers (as Magistrate, District Officer and Resident),” said chief operating officer of Leadership Institute (Institute), Segaren Amurugam during the programme.
He added that the training sought to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in executing judicial powers, statutory functions and duties based on procedures and requirement of the law which would enable the participants to perform duties and responsibilities with utmost integrity and accountability.
The appointment and statutory duties of administrative officers in Resident and District Office require systematic legal competency training to equip them with adequate knowledge, skills and ability to perform the job effectively according to procedures and requirement of the law.
The COO of Leadership Institute also said that, “Legal competency has traditionally been valued in the State Civil Service (SCS) as an essential skill to administer the court of law, especially at the Divisional and District level.
“While the previous Sarawak Administrative Officers were inducted into law subjects and exams as part of mandatory service requirement, the existing Administrative Officers need to equip themselves with sound legal competency
and put into practice discharging legal and statutory duties effectively.”
On the training programmes offered by the institute, Segaren made it a point to continue to provide training that could help uplift the confidence of civil servants as he believed that the knowledge and skill could create a greater sense of motivation and lift their confidence.
He added that should they require more trainings in such areas, the institute is committed to organise more trainings of this kind.
“You as magistrates, must know the different types of charges and be able to find where the law,” said Datu Romie Sigan, now Deputy Chairman of Public Service Commission, was specially invited to share his experiences as a former Resident of Betong.
He had spent most part of the four-day session sharing about his rich experiences in handling court cases at the divisional level and shared many interesting stories.
“Remember, we always try to dispense justice and nevertheless.
“The mark of a (good) lawyer or magistrate is knowing the law and where to find it according to legal documents,” he added.
The course is part of the institute’s flagship programme – a High Performance Leadership (HPL) programme.
The programme covered a total of 10 topics, namely Introduction to Malaysian Legal System, Interpretation of Statutes, Principles of Administrative Law to name a few.
Administrative Officer and Assistant Administrative Officer serving in R&DO also had the opportunity to learn through case studies and a mock trial, which was a simulation of court proceeding, in a bid to enhance their ability in judicial and statutory knowledge and capacity.
Another member of the facilitators was Henry Joseph, a legal practitioner who actively advises NGOs (non-governmental organisations).
The training programme was organised by the Leadership Institute in collaboration with the State Human Resource Unit of Chief Minister’s Department and State Attorney-General Chambers.
