The DAP has welcomed the call by Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail for Sabah and Sarawak to allow lawyers from Peninsula Malaysia to practice there.

DAP National Legal Advisory Bureau Secretary Gobind Singh Deo said that it was important that the legal system in Malaysia be united into one with lawyers from Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsula Malaysia having rights of audience in all courts.

"There is no basis for separation of the two (East and Peninsula Malaysia), and the existence of a prohibition against peninsula lawyers from practice in Sabah and Sarawak does not speak well for a Malaysia which intends to keep up with concepts such as globalisation," said Gobind in a statement today.

Presently, lawyers from the peninsular have to apply for ad hoc admission from the High Court of Borneo before they are allowed to represent any client in Sabah or Sarawak for a particular case. To set up a practice in those two states, however, a lawyer have to be a resident or a permanent resident there.

Lawyers from Sabah and Sarawak are free to practice in the peninsula once they have been called to the Bar.

Abdul Gani made the call yesterday when opening the 13th Malaysian Law Conference. He said the people of Sabah and Sarawak would have more choice in engaging counsel with the move.

He added that after 50 years of independence, it was time to streamline regulations to allow lawyers to practice throughout the country.