MALAYSIAN JUDICIARY CAPTURES WORLD ATTENTION OVER DISPOSAL OF CASES

By Jocelyn Ann Dragon

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 10 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian judiciary's implementation of
a mechanism which proved to be extremely effective in expeditiously clearing the
backlog of court cases, has captured world attention.

These countries now want to come to Malaysia to study the mechanism.

This was revealed by Chief Justice Zaki Azmi at the swearing-in ceremony of
eight judicial commissioners who were elevated to high court judges Tuesday.

In his speech, he said among the countries which came forward to study the
methods practised by the Malaysian judiciary included Commonwealth countries and
non-commonwealth such as Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Singapore, Brunei, Bangladesh,
Turkey, Nigeria, Seychelles Island, Australia and Canada.

He said the approach introduced by the judiciary since early last year,
which were found to be extremely effective in disposing off the backlog of cases
included enhancing the competency of judges and court staff, increasing the
number of judges and improving infrastructure.

Other steps taken by the judiciary were avoiding frivolous litigation, full
utilisation of court working hours, applying judiciously, the practice of
adjournment of court cases and adoption of alternative dispute redress
mechanisms and ending court boycotts.

In view of the judiciary's speedy disposal of cases, Zaki said an
invitation was extended to him to give a speech on its adoption of methods, at a
conference organised by Asia Pacific Judicial Forum this year.

The four-day conference beginning Oct 25, will be held in Beijing, China.

The chief justice is also expected to give a talk on judicial reforms in
Singapore on Oct 4 and 5, this year.

In his speech, Zaki disclosed that an article entitled, 'The Judiciary',
published on July 16, this year stated that Justice K. Chandru of the Madras
High Court had managed to single-handedly dispose of 53,000 court cases in the
four years that he held office.

That article also stated that the judge had disposed of an average of 1,300
cases every month and in April alone, he delivered 1,474 verdicts.

Zaki said the article also stated that backlog cases could only be removed
by taking the steps which the Malaysian judiciary had currently adopted.

At the ceremony, the eight judicial commissioners were confirmed
full-fledged high court judges, effective Tuesday.

They were Abdul Rahman Sebli, Zaleha Yusof, Halijah Abas, Mary Lim Thiam
Suan, Kamardin Hashim, Yaacob Md Sam, Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Anantham a/l
Kasinather.

Abdul Rahman took his oath before Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Richard
Malanjum while the rest, before Chief Judge of Malaya Arifin Zakaria, and
witnessed by Zaki.

In his speech, Zaki also touched on the postponement of cases which he said,
parties in a court proceeding should not continue to complain "justice hurried
is justice buried" just because their request for postponement was denied by the
court.

He said he had been monitoring daily reports and noticed there were
postponement of cases, many of which, he considered, to be for flimsy reasons,
including reports by chemist or specialist not ready, or documents not being
served on time.

Zaki said lawyers also continued to request for postponement, giving reasons
that they were just appointed to handle the case or because they were occupied
in another court case.

"Why are their cases not ready to move on the dates fixed? Fortunately,
those who make these complaints are relatively small. At the end of the day,
what the judiciary is doing is aimed at benefiting parties who seek justice
before the courts.

"Lawyers who appear on their behalf should also be happy with these positive
steps taken, including being strict on postponements," said Zaki.
-- BERNAMA


Attachments: