Wilfred Yap giving legal advice

suppadmin | February 3, 2021

KUCHING: An elderly women and her sister seek legal advice from SUPP Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) Chief, Wilfred Yap after she received a letter of demand from a legal firm alleging that they owed RM130,000 and that if she did not pay up, her property in which she is currently staying would be transferred to the alleged creditor.

The victim said she had lodged a police report on the matter and Yap have requested the police to conduct a proper investigation on the police report.

Yap said the general legal principle is that the person signing the document is bound by its terms regardless of whether that person have read or understood it or otherwise. When a document containing contractual terms is signed, then, in the absence of coercion, fraud or misrepresentation, the party or person signing it is bound and it is immaterial whether he has read the document or not.

“What if the document is in English or Bahasa Malaysia, but you don’t speak English or Bahasa Malaysia. The law is that the language barrier is not an excuse. Before anyone sign an Agreement or Contract in a language he does not understand, the onus is on him to ask someone who understands the language or to ask a lawyer about the content of the document,” he added.