Landowners need protection

The Sunday Star

PETALING JAYA: The Bar Council wants the Government to amend the National Land Code to protect landowners and bona fide purchasers from losing or buying property through others' fraudulent actions.

It wants Section 340 of the National Land Code and other relevant provisions to be amended, said the council's Conveyancing Practice Committee chairman Roger Tan.

He said they had prepared a memorandum “Prevention and Protection Against Fraudulent Land Transactions” and would present it to the Natural Resources and Environment minister as soon as possible.

Tan said this following a Court of Appeal decision on Friday which ruled that brothers Au Meng Nam and Ming Kong were the proprietors of a piece of land and not Ung Yak Chew who had purchased it from two fraudsters.

The hearing, presided by Justice Gopal Sri Ram, also comprised Justices Md Raus Sharif and Hasan Lah.

In the decision, the Court of Appeal declared that a controversial Federal Court judgment in a similar case in 2000 (Adorna Properties Sdn Bhd vs Boonsom Boonyanit) was wrongly decided.

“Notwithstanding the Court of Appeal decision on Friday, the law must be amended, and the Government must do it as quickly as possible to reverse the decision of Adorna Properties.

“This is in order to assuage the fears of landowners who now risk losing their properties to forgers and fraudsters,” Tan said.

Among the council's reasons for amending the National Land Code was the fact that ownership of land was at risk because a landowner is legally not entitled to lodge a private caveat against any dealings on his land and that it was against the principles of fairness and justice that a landowner is without remedy or compensation for loss of land following the Adorna Properties decision.

Tan added that even when Boonsom's personal representatives had asked the Federal Court to review its decision, the apex court , comprising of Justices P. S. Gill, Rahmah Hussein and Richard Malanjun, had reaffirmed the earlier decision, saying they were not convinced that the interpretation given in 2000 was patently wrong.

“The only (other) way for courts to get around the Adorna Properties case, for example, is if they find that the purchaser who bought the property from forgers to be someone who is not a bona fide purchaser, as in Friday’s decision,” said Tan.

Bar Council backs Court of Appeal ruling

New Sunday Times

KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council has applauded Court of Appeal judge Datuk Gopal Sri Ram’s declaration that a Federal Court ruling in a case where a landowner lost his property to a forger is wrong.

He was referring to the Federal Court’s 2001 decision in Adorna Properties Sdn Bhd v Boonsom Boonyanit favouring the bona fide purchaser of land whose ownership had been forged.

Last Friday, the Court of Appeal judge, while deciding on a case similar to that of Adorna, said the principle set out in that case should not be followed as it was contrary to the National Land Code.

The Federal Court decision has long been criticised by the legal fraternity for undermining the integrity of land titles and leaving the original owners without any means to recover their land.

However, the chairman of the Bar Council Conveyancing Practice Committee, Roger Tan, said Sri Ram’s statement was but just a drop in the ocean.

"No matter how loud the Court of Appeal can shout, the local courts are still bound by the doctrine of judicial precedent or stare decisis," he said.

This means that lower courts must follow the decisions of the courts which are superior to them in the legal hierarchy.

"That is why the Bar Council believes that a reform of the National Land Code is the only solution that will put a stop to fraudulent land transfers,"

But others like MCA Public Services and Complaints Department’s chief legal adviser, Datuk Theng Bok, see optimism in Sri Ram’s statement.

"Previously, only lawyers talked about it being a wrong ruling. Now we have support from within the system,"

Theng hopes the ruling will be overturned soon.

"Currently, there are syndicates who are capitalising on the loophole set by the 2001 decision," he said.

"They are conspiring with supposedly ‘innocent’ buyers to use the law to obtain unlawful gains."

He said the government should introduce insurance schemes that would protect land buyers from fraudulent land transfers.

But others like P.K. Nathan, a lawyer who represented the late Mrs Boonyanit’s personal representatives to apply for a review of the 2001 decision, believes that the onus to prevent fraud should be on lawyers who handle the transactions.

"Official searches at the land office should be made by the lawyer to ascertain if any duplicates were issued.

"If a duplicate has been made, the lawyer should question the land office," said Nathan.

He also believes that lawyers should be more vigilant, especially towards first-time clients.

Desperately seeking Dad

The Sunday Star

Birthday joy: Sue Yong celebrating his 80th birthday with his wife Swee Mei (on his left), children and grandchildren.

While most fathers will be spending quality time with their children on Father’s Day, there is a minority who will be looking for their children who have gone missing, and there will also be children looking for their fathers. Sunday Star speaks to some of these people who still hope to find their loved ones.

IT has been seven years since Tan Sue Yong went missing but his grandson Joel Tan still has hopes of seeing him again. Sue Yong, who was 83 and suffering from dementia, left his home in Yong Peng, Johor, for his daily morning walk never to return.

“We pray to God that he would one day bring him back alive. And we are still clinging on to that continually fading hope,” said the 15-year-old, who added that his grandfather was a good cook, among other things.

Joel still remembers the day his grandfather went missing.

“Although I was a young boy then, I could feel the tension in my family. I could see the agony on my parents’ faces as they went around looking for him, going around and around the same route that my granddad used to take when he visited his rubber estate,” said Joel.

The strong feelings for Sue Yong still exist, and every year on the date of his disappearance (May 23), special prayers for his well-being are held.

“Even now, tears still trickle down our cheeks whenever we think of him because we know that we have lost a great man in our family,” said Joel.

According to Joel, his grandfather cared very much for him and his siblings.

“Whenever my dad scolded or wanted to cane my siblings and me when we were younger, we could always count on him to help us out. We would always hide behind him for we knew that he would be there to protect and defend us,” said Joel.

Joel’s father, Roger Tan, 45, believes his father has passed on but he has not completely given up on finding him.

“Unless he is being taken care of, he must have passed on. I still carry the hope that he is alive. Even if he is dead, I hope that we can find him and give him a decent burial,” he said.

Information about Sue Yong is available on www.missingourdad.com

Law conference to tackle hot issues

Malaysiakini

by Beh Lih Yi

In recent times, issues and debates concerning the freedom of religion have been dominating the conversations of businessmen and politicians as well as your local hawkers and taxi drivers.

The name Lina Joy is no more foreign to the lips of Malaysians. Apostasy is no longer a distant issue concerning non-Muslims.

People are asking where the line starts between the Federal Court and ends at the Syariah Courts. The grey area of freedom of religion in Malaysia, a multi-racial, multi-religious country is now in contention.

And this debate looks set to continue at the forthcoming Malaysian Law Conference to be held from Oct 29 -31.

“There will be a session on freedom of religion where a few distinguished speakers will speak about the recent Lina Joy case”, said Roger Tan, chairperson of the organising committee for the conference.

The conference will devote its second day to issues on constitutional law and how the constitution has developed since Malaysia’s independence.

Other topics to be deliberated include trade and globalisation, Islamic commercial law, Orang Asli and the Constitution, freedom of the arts and gender issues.

Tan added that the topics at the forum were aimed at examining the development of the laws after 50 years of independence.

They will also reflect Malaysia’s achievements, raising present isses and challenges, and generating discussion of the way forward in the next 50 years.

The conference aims to attract 1,000 delegates this year, up from the usual 500 delegates.

Rare honour

A major attraction of this year’s conference is the opening address by the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah and the keynote address by the Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi .

Sultan Azlan Shah’s speech entitled ’50 years of Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law’ will reflect the conference’s theme of ’50 years of Merdeka’.

“This is a rare honour to have the Sultan and Prime Minister deliver the opening and keynote addresses. It is a great opportunity for members of the bar to turn up in full force,” said Tan.

The conference will also feature speakers from the Malaysian Bar, judiciary, Attorney-General’s Chambers, Judicial and Legal Services, corporate sectors, local universities, NGOs and foreign Bar associations.

The conference will be held on Oct 29 to 31 October at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.