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Judges of the Federal Court, Court of Appeal and the High Court,

Vice President of the Malaysian Bar,
Mr Lim  Chee Wee

Chairman of the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee
Mr Anand Ponnudurai

Tan Sri/Puan Sri/Dato’/Datin

Ladies and gentlemen – members of the Bar
 

Good Evening.

First and foremost, I wish to thank the Chairman and the Committee members of the Kuala Lumpur Bar for inviting me and my wife to this annual dinner.  The Right Hon. Chief Justice has asked me to convey his regret that he is unable to join us tonight because of his prior commitment. 

I am sure you do not come here to listen to speeches but rather to enjoy yourselves amongst colleagues and friends, therefore, I am not going to take much of your time.   I shall be as brief as I can possibly be.

I am glad to see so many of my colleagues and ex-colleagues here tonight.  This indicates the good relationship between the Bar generally and the Kuala Lumpur Bar in particular and the judiciary.  Such strong ties between us is essential in discharging our duties to the public.  Towards this end, we have been having regular meetings  with the Bar to iron out whatever problems or issues that had arisen in the course of our  work.  This  cordial relationship,  I must emphasize,   is essential if we want to have an efficient judiciary.  The judges alone cannot create an efficient judiciary without the close co-operation of the members of the Bar.  Similarly the quality of our decisions and judgments are to a large measure dependent  on the standard of advocacy.

I am happy to note that by and large the Bar has given us their full support and co-operation.  As for  the standard of advocacy,  for my part I think it is at a satisfactory level. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

As you all know the members of our judiciary are drawn both from the Bar and the Judicial and Legal Service.  Despite of the large number of Judicial and Legal  Service officers now as compared to the time when I first joined the Legal and Judicial Service, we continue to invite numbers of the Bar to join the judiciary as Superior Court Judges.  Recently we have made a number of  appointments from members of the Bar with particular  experience to assist the judiciary in disposal of certain cases.  I know some of them,  if not all,  have to make big sacrifices  in monetary  terms.  On behalf of the judiciary, I must thank them all.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Permit me to say a few words on the issue of backlog  of cases.  This has been the perennial problem of many jurisdictions in the world and Malaysia is no exception.  I am sure you are aware of the measures that  have been taken to overcome this problem.   I am happy to say that,   the recent changes that had been put in place in Kuala Lumpur, Shah Alam and a number of other states have shown  positive results.   This demand a lot sacrifice not only among judges but also by lawyers.  However, judges don’t earn anything  extra  if they  work harder except,  may be the  recognition by  their superiors  and of course the personal joy and satisfaction, but lawyers could earn more if more cases are closed.  I have heard lawyers saying  that they are earning  more now but the bad part of it, is that they have little or no time to enjoy the extra income.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I must tell you that it is the singular  ambition of the present  CJ, The Rt. Hon. Tun Zaki,  to raise the standing  of our judiciary in terms of efficiency and quality to  a level  that we all can be proud of.

In this connection, I am calling upon all of you to support us.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Recently the CJ and I attended the “13th Conference of Chief Justices of Asia and The Pacific” in Vietnam.  Amongst  the topic for deliberation was the  methods adopted and the experiences  of the various jurisdictions in combating the issue of backlog   of cases.  One of the method  identified was the  more liberal use of ADR (Alteration Dispute Resolution),   such  as mediation in settlement of dispute.   Mediation can be judge led or can be conducted by  a private mediator.  Whatever the method employed,  the results show that cases are much faster disposed of and at a lesser  cost to the parties.

We have been informed in some jurisdictions  like the US and our neighbour Singapore some 80 – 90% of cases are settled by ADR.

I must tell you that we are seriously considering this option and I hope the Bar will continue to give us your support and co-operation.  I hope I have not taken up much of your beautiful and  enjoyable  evening.

Once again on behalf of my wife, myself  and my colleagues I wish to thank the Kuala Lumpur  Bar for inviting us to this  annual function.

Thank you.

TAN SRI ARIFIN BIN ZAKARIA
Chief Judge of Malaya.

14 November 2009
Sime Darby Convention Center