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 ©The
Sunday Star (Used by permission)
by Shaila Koshy
• Government to have independent appraisal of e-court system
The plan for an e-court system has had more starts and stops
than a learner driver. If the current judicial leadership can at least get all
courts to use a recording and transcription service, it will be a proud feather
in their judicial songkoks.
THERE were loud gasps last week when Malaysians read from Parliament reports
that the backlog of cases was almost one million.
In a written reply to Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng in Parliament on Thursday, de
facto Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim revealed a grim picture: the backlog in
the High Court was 91,702 cases, with 125,944 in the Sessions Court and 777,703
in the magistrate’s courts.
But it is confidence building to learn that the judiciary has been putting in
place new measures to address this and other problems in the administration of
justice.
In January last year, the Government had handed the management of the e-court
system – covering case management, court recording and transcription (CRT) and
an information technology infrastructure – to former Chief Justice Tun Ahmad
Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim. But very little has been heard since then of the
e-court pilot.
This January, new Chief Justice Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid Mohamed tasked new Court
of Appeal President Justice Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi and new Chief Judge of Malaya
Justice Datuk Alauddin Mohd Sheriff with the job of shaping up the
administration of the courts in the peninsular.
Their primary target is to reduce complaints about missing court files, poor
counter service, long waits for trial/appeal dates, long trials and even longer
waits for grounds of judgment.
Justice Abdul Hamid approved a pilot project for a recording and real-time
transcription service in two courtrooms in the Jalan Duta Court Complex and
directed Justice Zaki to report on the viability of the new and existing
systems.
When the second largest court complex in the world opened on May 3, 2007, it was
equipped with two court recording and transcription (CRT) systems – an analogue
recording system in 65 courtrooms and a digital recording system in nine courts.
Unfortunately, they were not widely used, say High Court Justices Datuk T.S.
Nathan and Datuk Ramly Ali.
However, with the CJ’s interest in utilising CRT to speed up commercial and
civil hearings coupled with Justice Zaki’s drive, things are moving again.
According to Justices Nathan and Ramly, the digital recording systems work the
best.
“There is a consensus that we abandon the analogue system because it is too
unwieldy and problematic,” says Justice Nathan.
Not one to mince his words, Justice Zaki apparently told the recent Conference
of Judges that the “analogue system should be thrown out the window”.
Bar Council secretary Lim Chee Wee suggests it be sold as scrap so the
taxpayers’ money is not wasted.
As for the digital system, one provides delayed transcription, the second offers
almost real-time transcription, says Justice Ramly.
The ideal in real-time transcription is for the judge and counsel to see the
words on their (individual) screen as they are typed. Also, in high profile
public interest cases, recordings of the day’s proceedings can be burnt onto CDs
and given to judge and counsel, along with a transcript, so they can check for
errors and corrections can be made the very next day.
Judges who use the digital CRT system are optimistic it can reduce the length of
trials and long waits for trial dates.
“We have about 700 cases per court. I have already given out dates for Dec 14
and 15, 2009,” says Justice Ramly.
Most of the time, judges are taking work home because they don’t have time to
write their judgments during office hours, he adds.
Even so, judgments are often done in dribs and drabs and with Malaysians
becoming more litigious, the few judicial resources are being stretched even
more.
Efficient use of current resources (clerical and IT) would certainly be more
cost saving than spending money on more judges, says a senior appellate level
judge who did not want to be named.
“One day I was hearing winding-up applications and because I used the CRT court,
it was all over between 30 and 45 minutes,” says Justice Nathan, a Commercial
Division judge, adding it would have taken three hours if he had had to record
by hand.
“In my experience, using the CRT system has reduced the trials in my court by
half the time,” says Justice Ramly, who hears commercial and intellectual
property matters.
Apart from assisting the judge, the digital CRT system can also help counsel in
preparing for the next day’s hearing or final submissions if the recording of
the proceedings is burnt onto a CD and given to counsel at the end of the day or
trial.
But the common problem in all three CRT systems, say the judges, is the
transcribers’ lack of competency in English and knowledge of legal terms.
“Even with the real-time transcription system, it is only 60% to 70% real time
because they cannot keep up,” says Justice Ramly.
Currently, judges’ secretaries and court support staff come from a Public
Services Department pool. Would it be better if they were a “closed service” so
there is no possibility of them being transferred after time and money has been
spent for their specialised training?
Both judges agree but are concerned that a “closed service” might deprive the
staff of promotions and career development opportunities.
In Lord President Tun Mohamed Suffian Hashim’s time, court stenographers were
sent to the Philippines for training. This stopped once they made Bahasa
Malaysia the court language and English was less in use.
But apart from typing skills and competency in both Bahasa Malaysia and English,
Justices Ramly and Nathan think that paralegal qualification would help, noting
that those in Singapore and Australia have some legal training.
A satisfied user of a CRT service in one trial, Lim says: “I would have liked to
have the notes at the end of the day and I am prepared to pay a premium to get
it the same night.
“Even without CRT, clients are already paying; I pay the judge’s secretary RM10
for a typed page of his handwritten notes.”
The advantages to the CRT system are restricted to civil cases for now because
the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) states that the notes of proceedings must be
in the judge’s handwriting. Nothing can be done unless Parliament amends the
CPC.
The painful experience of Justice Mohd Zaki Md Yasin, who is trying the
Altantunya Shaariibuu murder case, should be the push Zaid needs to do this.
On Oct 24 last year, the trial in the Shah Alam High Court was adjourned earlier
than usual. The reason: the judge had cramps in both hands. The ambidextrous
judge had joked wanly: “It’d be good to have a third hand.”
Government to have independent appraisal of e-court system
KUALA LUMPUR: The Government will appoint independent IT consultants to advise
on past proposals for implementing an e-court system.
“We will review all contracts related to IT so that whatever e-system we
implement finally is one that is efficient, transparent and keeps track of all
case files so that at any one time we will know their status,” Minister in the
Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, who is the de facto law
minister, told The Star.
“I want independent IT consultants – no one connected to any service provider
company – to tell us whether the past proposals are useful and workable.”
He said this when asked for an update on the Government’s RM40mil pilot e-court
management system that included a court recording and transcription (CRT)
system.
On whether the government would replace the analogue CRT system in 65 court
rooms at the Jalan Duta Court Complex, which opened last year, since judges
testing that system found it fraught with problems compared with the digital CRT
systems in 11 other courts, he replied:
“If a system works we will use it, if not, we will change it; I am only
responsible for what happens from now.”
On the fact that any time gained from using CRT to record proceedings was lost
in delays in transcription because judges’ secretaries or court clerical staff –
standing in as transcribers – were unfamiliar with legal jargon and not
competent in English, he said training could be provided.
Zaid said it could be possible to implement a suggestion that such staff be part
of a closed service so that the judiciary would not lose them to another
department after the staff members are trained.
“I believe that the career prospects of these people need to be taken care of.
If JPA (Public Services Department) is amenable to the idea, a suitable solution
can be found,” he added when told that the judiciary, however, would not want
support staff to lose out on promotions.
“But that is a long-term strategy. In the short term, transcription services
could even be outsourced,” he said.
Bar Council secretary Lim Chee Wee said the Government could call for an open
tender if it was looking for a new IT service provider.
“Good governance dictates that the Government must award contracts on an open
and competitive tender basis instead of direct negotiation,” he said.
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