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The Bar Council welcomes any move by the Judiciary to clear backlog in our courts. Indeed this has been a matter of continuing concern for the Bar for many years, and has from time to time been highlighted. The Bar Council has in the past made various approaches and suggestions to the Government and the Judiciary in this regard.

In order to resolve any problem, the true nature of and reasons for that problem must first be correctly identified and understood.

The situation of backlog in our courts is one which has been accumulated for many years. It has arisen because of a multitude of (and not just a few) factors. These include the acute shortage of judges and support staff (such as interpreters) in contrast with the sharp rise in the number of cases that our courts have to deal with; and the implementation of and switching to new systems without prior or full consultation with the Bar. There are many more reasons, all of which must be carefully examined before a well thought-out plan may be put into action. All stakeholders of our justice system should be consulted in this process, including the Judiciary, the Bar, the Attorney General’s chambers, the Ministry in charge of law, as well as the Malaysian public. 

While it is acknowledged that there are occasions when a case is postponed at the request of the counsel for one or more parties because of engagement in another court; it would not be right to assign that as the main cause for backlog. 

Moreover, the question of lawyers seeking adjournment due to having more than one case on the same day is not as simple as it may seem. The issue may be linked to other factors, such as the current system employed by our appellate courts in fixing hearing dates for motions (applications) and appeals without regard to whether or not the lawyers concerned may already have hearings fixed in the lower courts (which are normally dates fixed long before the notification of hearing in the appellate court). This can result in a clash of hearing dates through no fault of the lawyer, compelling him to seek adjournment of one of the cases. The Bar Council is given to understand that the appellate courts are currently considering changing that system, which is a positive move that will be welcomed by the Bar. This is an example of the numerous measures that can be effective in tackling the situation of backlog. 

There are many other effective measures that can be carefully designed and implemented, after consultation with the aforesaid stakeholders of our justice system. The Bar Council hopes that the process of full and frank consultation will now begin.

Dated 24th December 2003

HJ. KUTHUBUL ZAMAN BUKHARI
Chairman
Bar Council