CJ wants Malaysian Bar's cooperation to address negative perception of judiciary

KUALA LUMPUR: Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum has called on the Malaysian Bar to work with the judiciary to shed the negative perception of the public towards the judicial system.

He said the participation of the legal fraternity is necessary as the matter concerned both parties.

“For instance, if there is namedropping, by lawyers mentioning the names of judges, prosecutors or investigating officers in order to impress their clients, imagine the impact when they (clients) do not understand the system.

“It is quite destructive on the image of the judiciary,” he said in his speech at the launch of the Report on the International Framework for Court Excellence (IFCE) at a hotel here yesterday.

Malanjum said that so far there are no guidelines as well as professional public relations in the judicial system to handle public perception.

"In other countries that I know of, like Singapore, they have good public relations to deal with the mass media, especially in today’s world of the social media,” he said.

The IFCE report touches on seven areas to assist the courts by introducing a path of improvement.

It analyses court leadership and management, court planning and policies, court resources (human, material and finance), court proceedings and procedures, client needs and satisfaction, affordable and accessible court services as well as public trust and confidence.

The Chief Justice said that last year, the judiciary scored only 840 points out of the maximum 1,000 points of the assessment. – Bernama