THE year 2020 will see the continuation of efforts towards judicial reform pledged by the Pakatan Harapan government since it took over the administration.
Experts believed that while some of the reforms had yet to be realised, 2020 might prove to be a promising year in more ways than one.
Prominent lawyer Nizam Bashir said the government had pledged reforms in a number of areas, including the judicial system.
“Some may ask whether these proposals are necessary,” he said.
“However, if we look at the results of the United Nations Development Programme Judicial Integrity Self-Assessment Checklist, which was answered by participants from the judiciary and mainly made up of High Court judges as set out in the International Framework on Court Excellence Report 2018, the answer seems obvious as judges rated the judicial system with relatively average scores in the areas listed.”
He said judges gave ratings of between 3.61 and 4.09 (out of 5) in specified areas, which included whether there was a transparent process in the appointment to judicial office and promotion of judges, complaints policy and a fair and expeditious system for investigation of complaints against judges and court officers.
Nizam said the Committee on Institutional Reforms had also highlighted the issue of the appointment of judges as being one of the areas requiring reform.
“So it was not surprising to find Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad expressing the view in October last year that the appointment of judges and certain other positions would go through Parliament before the names were submitted to the king.
“The government similarly recognises that there must be reform in the present system.”
He said at present, there appeared to be fixed notions as to what could be meted out in terms of sentencing.
He said nowhere was this most acute than where the death sentence was concerned.
“More leeway should be given to the judiciary, even in matters involving certain serious crimes, subject to a careful review in its implementation, and hopefully this will lead to a more just as well as humane judicial system.”
He also agreed that some laws, namely the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) and the National Security Council Act 2016, required reassessment.
“Granted, developments may not be going as fast as some quarters may desire, but perhaps we still ought to look at all of this with some optimism as legislation that affects security most certainly requires consultation with various stakeholders.
“What is most important is that we get there,” said Nizam.
Apart from the re-assessment of various laws, the sentencing policy, one of the elements in the criminal justice system, was also under review.
The policy was being reviewed following the government’s decision to study the death penalty.
Human Right Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner Jerald Joseph said it had been consistently advocating for the total abolition of the death penalty.
“Therefore, Suhakam would support the government’s decision to abolish the mandatory death penalty and the moratorium on all executions enforced by the government since 2018 as a first step to this end,” he said.
He said Suhakam also welcomed the government’s establishment of a nine-member committee to study and make recommendations on appropriate punishment to replace the death penalty and transitional measures for current death row prisoners.
Suhakam commissioner Datuk Mah Weng Kwai, a former judicial commissioner and High Court judge, is a member of the review committee.
The committee, formed following a cabinet decision in August, held its first meeting on Sept 20, with members also comprising former Federal Court judges, former Attorney-General’s Chambers officers, former senior officers of the Prisons Department, as well as representatives of the Bar Council, academics, criminologists, and civil society organisations.