PUTRAJAYA, April 10 (Bernama) -- The Executive should not appear to interfere in the decisions of judges, Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad said Wednesday.
Abdul Hamid said instead, the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary must respect each other's jurisdiction and practise the doctrine of separation of powers as provided by the Federal Constitution.
"There must be mutual respect for each other's jurisdictions," he said in his opening speech at the Judges Conference here Wednesday.
Abdul Hamid said that judges should also be strong enough to resist any attempt to interfere with their independence, if such an occasion arose.
"Once the public is convinced that there is no interference by the Executive in the decisions of the judges, half the battle is won," he said.
He was commenting on Minister in the Prime Minister's Department senator Zaid Ibrahim's remarks that there was a need for judicial reform to preserve the institution and the separation of powers as otherwise there would be no meaning in a Constitutional Government which needed to have checks and balance.
"Personally, I am very reluctant to use such a high-sounding word as "reform" for fear that, in reality, it may end up as described by the Malay proverb: "indah khabar dari rupa (things look good only on the surface)." So, I shall not use it. I prefer to pinpoint the specific causes and try to find solutions for them," he said.
Abdul Hamid also said that the judiciary would be in the right direction to redeem the negative perception situation if the public was convinced that the judges were independent, incorruptible, hard-working, fair and free from any vested interests.
"We cannot deny that the Judiciary is now suffering from a negative perception by the public. Ironically, it is not the result of what had just happened over the past few months. It is an accumulation of what have been happening or perceived to have happened over the past two decades, beginning with the dismissal of Lord President Salleh Abas and two former Federal Court judges." he added.
"Politicised to the hilt, the full effect is now felt and we bear the burden of trying to redeem these negative perceptions," he said.
Abdul Hamid said the negative perception of the public towards the judiciary was not caused by factors from within the judiciary alone but was also due to factors coming from outside the judiciary which needed to be addressed.
On selection of persons to be appointed as judges, he said the correct criteria such as integrity, knowledge, incorruptible, hard-working, fair, of good character and able to "buat kerja" (work) should be applied in choosing a person to be a judge.
"Judgeship is not a reward, not a semi-retirement, not a solution for a problem somewhere else. It is hard-work, honest hard work," he said citing a Malay proverb, "Kalau tanam pokok pisang kelat, jangan harap akan dapat pisang emas" (if you plant banana trees don't expect to get mango fruits).
Abdul Hamid also said lawyers, parties in the court cases, members of the media and members of the public too had a role to play.
"Everyone has to be honest in dealing with the courts. The press should report fairly and accurately the judgments of the court," he said.
"There are members of the public whose only concern is their personal interests. As far as they are concerned, the court is right if it decides in their favour and wrong if it decides against them, irrespective of the law and the evidence adduced in court," said Abdul Hamid.
The chief justice said the moment a judge decides against them, the public write malicious complaints against the judge accusing him of corruption and bias.
"By tradition, judges do not respond. Sometimes, I wonder whether judges, who are expected to ensure that everyone who appears before them be treated fairly and be given the right to be heard should not themselves have the same rights. Are they (the judges) not "members of the public" too," he said.
Abdul Hamid, who is due to retire on Oct 17, started his speech by saying that it would his first and last time addressing the conference and and maintained that, even if he were to be the Chief Justice for only one day, during that one day, he would be determined to do what he honestly believed to be right.
"Since this is the only conference that I will be chairing, I would like, as far as possible, to concentrate on the administration of justice rather than pure administrative matters. This is a matter of priority at this point of time," he said.
The Chief Justice also said that he saw more and more cut-and-paste judgements, perhaps facilitated by modern technology.
"Passages are lifted up and pasted on the judgment without considering the facts and the ratio of the case. As a result the law gets extended further and further and, at times, at the expense of the provisions of statutes.
"At times, even the whole of the law firm's letter-head, together with the names of all the partners and the assistants and the telephone numbers of the firm, is reproduced in the judgment. Whatever for," Abdul Hamid said.
The Chief Justice also commented on arbitration which he said was the in-thing now and a big business in many countries.
Arbitration was introduced with a view to speedy and less expensive settlement of disputes and the efficient handling of arbitration cases would also help project Malaysia's image and the image of the Malaysian judiciary in the international arena, he said.
He said Singapore and Hong Kong had made their marks and were becoming preferred centres for arbitration.
"There is no reason why Malaysia cannot do the same," he added.
BERNAMA
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