Give new CJ a chance to improve the Judiciary

Letter to Editor


In an interview with Bernama newly-appointed Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi pledged to ensure speedier justice and clearing the staggering backlog of court cases.

Zaki’s pledge to ensure speedy delivery of justice is most assuring and deserves public support. As the saying goes “justice delayed is justice denied”.

In this regard the Chief Justice faces an immense task to address various issues such as improving the delivery system of the Judiciary, tackling bureaucracy in the courts, clearing administrative hurdles, overcoming the shortage of judges and other supporting staff, minimizing the postponement of cases etc.

To overcome these and other challenges, the Chief Justice needs the support of all relevant parties such as the Government, the Bar Council, the AG Chambers, the judicial and legal fraternity.

Zaki’s decision to give up a more lucrative private-sector carrier and accept a judicial appointment to improve the judiciary is a noble calling for national service which must be given due recognition.

His assumption to the highest judicial office of the land comes at a crucial time when much needs to be done to restore public confidence in the integrity and independence of the judiciary.

The Chief Justice’s greatest challenge would be to improve the image and public perception of the Judiciary.

Reading from his interview, Zaki has undoubtedly shown his desire and commitment to improve the judiciary.

In all fairness it has to be stated that efforts to improve the image of the judiciary began during Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad’s tenure as the former Chief Justice.

Hitherto the negative perception of the state of our judiciary, rightly or wrongly it may be, cannot and must not be ignored.

We must not brush it aside but on the contrary do our utmost to reverse the trend of negative thinking and public perception about our judiciary.

In Zaki Tun Azmi we place our hopes that he will leave no stones unturned in his endeavours to improve the judiciary - the “last frontier of the Nation”.

Whatever happened in the past that jeopardized the image of our judiciary, including a handful of judges who were tainted with corruption, let us put the ignominous chapter behind us.

Let us start with a new chapter to restore the glory of the Judiciary for the sake of our Nation.

The challenges ahead are immense. Let us give the newly-appointed Chief Justice a chance to bring change, measure up to his qualities and prove his critics wrong.