Stay true to principles and stability will prevail: CM

KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud believes that by staying true to the unique principles of law in Sarawak, peace and stability will continue to prevail in the State.

He said yesterday that Sarawak had a legal and constitutional history based on a desire to "build order in a situation that can lead to disorder" since the time of the White Rajahs and even before them.

Launching the book `The Constitutional and Legal History of Sarawak I - Documents and Commentaries', he felt that the legal principles from the Brooke era should in fact be applied in a more practical way and if necessary, embody them in some kind of legislation by the State Legislative Assembly.

He said this would enable the State government to rule Sarawak in the ways that had given the State a tradition of peace and harmony among the people.

"As long as we keep ourselves to achieving the tradition of harmony of unity of building order in our society, we would be able to erect a superstructure of law and convention to make our lives more governable and more orderly, than instead of being just motivated by legal considerations," said Taib.

Similarly, he said he was pleased that the book on the constitutional and legal history of Sarawak had been published as it would provide its readers insights into the birth and evolution of laws in Sarawak.

In pointing out that the book contained important legal documents from Sarawak's early days, he said it was important for all Sarawakians to know the legal history of the State.

The book, a project of the Association of History Malaysia Sarawak branch, was written by his former law lecturer, Prof Emeritus Alex C Castles, who was with the University of Adelaide.

The first volume of the book was subtitled `People's Lawmaking and Brooke Rule'.

The second volume would be out soon and it would encompass the Second World War, the State's colonial days, independence and the formation of Malaysia.

Castles, who had worked on similar legal publications on Australia and even the US, said the book would be useful to not only lawyers but also historians, as it not only covered conventional laws but also the adat or customary laws of the State.

He said the customary laws "were a beacon of the regulation of communal life in Sarawak" and a study of these laws would proyide greater insights into the history of the people in the State.

Meanwhile, Association of History Malaysia Sarawak branch president Datu Putit Matzen said the project started some two years ago and it was mooted by Taib, himself.

He said the amount of research and sifting through information from library, archives and personal collections for the book was monumental.