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The Bar Council fully supports the effort by Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, to hold discussion with the Chief Justice to review the 1994 Judges' Code of Ethics.

Public confidence in the judicial system is of cardinal importance, and has for some time been a matter of immense concern among the Malaysian public. Accountability by the judiciary and conformity with internationally accepted standards of judicial conduct are pressingly demanded by Malaysian citizens. Hence, a thorough and progressive review of the 1994 Code cannot be avoided or delayed.

The Bar Council supports the views of Datuk Param Cumaraswamy, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, that in carrying out such a review close regard should be had to the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct 2002. The Bangalore Principles have been carefully framed and reviewed by judges and experts from common law as well as civil law jurisdictions across the globe, and the 6 judicial values identified therein are indeed of universal applicability. The Bar Council strongly recommends unwavering adherence to those principles when revamping our 1994 Code.

While agreeing that problems such as delays in the delivery of decisions and the writing of judgments, along with the need for a graduated mechanism to deal with  complaints and breaches of judicial conduct, are important issues that need to be addressed; it  must be stressed that a meaningful revamp of the 1994 Code must encompass all (and not just some) of the tenets promulgated by the Bangalore Principles, namely judicial independence, impartiality, integrity, propriety, equality, competence and diligence; without all of which no judicial system can claim to be truly efficient and respected. The Bar Council looks forward to contributing towards achieving this common goal.

Dated 3rd April 2003

Hj. Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari
Chairman
Bar Council