The statute governing notaries public in Malaysia is the Notaries Public Act 1959. The Act came into force in peninsular Malaysia in 1959 and in East Malaysia in 1965. The Act repealed the Notaries Public Ordinance 1947.
Power of Appointment
Under the Act, the Attorney General is empowered to appoint notaries public to practice both in peninsular Malaysia as well as in East Malaysia. The appointment may be for a part of those regions only such as a specific state, and the Attorney General may also specify the period of the appointment. Such persons must be considered “fit and proper” by the Attorney General.
The area in which the notary may practise is usually the state or federal territory in which he practises as an advocate. Thus, a notary appointed to practise in one state cannot practise as a notary in another state. The usual period of appointment is two years, renewable upon application by the notary.
The Attorney General can also make temporary appointments. If it appears to him that any notary public is about to be absent from his place of practice in peninsular Malaysia for a period exceeding one month, he may appoint any person who is a practising advocate to be a notary public temporarily in the absence of that notary public. A temporary appointment means a period not longer than twelve months.
Similarly, if the location is in one of the states of East Malaysia, the relevant State Attorney General may make such a temporary appointment. This is the only instance where a notary public is appointed by a person other than the Attorney General.
Conditions for Appointment
a) Practising Advocate
The Act lays down certain conditions for the appointment of notaries. Firstly, the person must be practising as an advocate. The proviso to this requirement is that in any place in which a suitable advocate is not available for appointment, the Attorney General may appoint a public officer to be a notary public.
The Act does not go into further detail as to the qualifications of the practising advocate. However, the Attorney General requires applicants to have been in practice for at least 15 years. Upon making the application, the applicant is also required to submit a statutory declaration that he is not subject to any disciplinary proceedings under the Legal Profession Act 1976.
An obscure and probably redundant qualification for appointment is if the person to be appointed is a pleader licensed under the Pleaders and Writers Enactment of Trengganu and was so licensed prior to 1 January 1956.
b) Consultation with Bar Council or State Attorney General
The Attorney General must also first consult the Bar Council prior to making an appointment. This is in the case of an appointment in peninsular Malaysia, while the Attorney General must first consult the State Attorney-General where the appointment is to be made in East Malaysia. The Bar Council would have records of the disciplinary history of the advocate concerned.
c) Existing Notaries in the Area
One of the considerations taken into account by the Attorney General is the number of notaries public already practising in the place where the applicant proposes to practice and to the convenience of the inhabitants of such place.
Apart from considering this factor, the Attorney General has the absolute discretion whether to make or refuse an appointment, and there is no appeal from his decision.
Every appointment of a notary public is published in the government’s Federal Gazette.
Applications are made online via the Attorney General Chambers’ web site.
Malaysian Notary Public 