The Malaysian Bar - Joint Press Release by the Chief Justice of Malaysia and the President of the Malaysian Bar

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Joint Press Release by the Chief Justice of Malaysia and the President of the Malaysian Bar

Friday, 08 April 2011 10:12am

1. The Bench and the Bar must collaborate and coordinate with each other to ensure an effective and just administration of justice which inspires public confidence.

2. Both share the common desire to reduce substantially the backlog of cases, a problem which has been plaguing our courts for some time now.

3. The Bench and the Bar were determined to substantially reduce the backlog of cases and the Bench acknowledges and appreciates the assistance and hard work of the Bar towards the substantial reduction of the backlog. The backlog has been substantially reduced. However, there is concern with respect to the number of cases filed in 2008 and before still pending which as at 28 February 2011 number approximately,

High Court (Civil)	: 4849
High Court (Criminal)	: 127
Sessions Court (Civil)	: 2201
Sessions Court (Criminal)	: 808
Magistrates’ Court (Civil)	: 192
Magistrates’ Court (Criminal)	: 1590

The oldest case goes as far back as 1990.

4. The Bar has raised, from time to time, the problems and difficulties faced by lawyers and litigants in the last two years caused by this exercise.

5. With the view to addressing and remedying the problems and difficulties faced by lawyers and litigants, the Bench has responded positively by amongst others, issuing at least two practice directions; one dated 21 March 2011 and the other today.

6. In respect of the issue of key performance indicators (“KPI”), there is currently no and there will be no KPI measures based on a minimum disposal of cases per day, per week or per month as a KPI measure. Instead, Judges are assessed on qualitative measures, such as:

i)    Integrity;
ii)   Impartiality and independence;
iii)   Judicial temperament;
iv) Quality of judgments;
v)   Exercise of judicial discretion;
vi) Work ethic or diligence; and
vii) Observance of the Judges’ Code of Ethics 2009.

7. The Bench and the Bar, together with the Attorney General’s Chambers (“AGC”), will continue to collaborate and co-ordinate, and to this end, respective working groups will be established for Appellate Courts (Federal Court and Court of Appeal), High Court (Criminal, Civil and Commercial), and Subordinate Courts (Criminal, Civil and Personal Injury).

8. These working groups will comprise members of the Bench, Bar and the AGC with the responsibility to find solutions and formulate measures for an excellent justice system.

Dated this 7th day of April 2011.

(signed) (signed)
Chief Justice of Malaysia President of the Malaysian Bar

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