The Chief Justice of the Federal Court, Malaysia, the Right Honourable Tun Dato' Sri Ahmad Fairuz bin Dato' Sheikh Abdul Halim today launched the Video/Tele conferencing, short messaging system (SMS) and File Tracking System(FTS) at Kompleks Mahkamah Kuching, Petra Jaya, Kuching. Accompanying him is the Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak, the Right Honourable Dato' Richard Malanjum, four Federal Court judges and all the judges resident in Sarawak.

This launch marks Malaysia’s first-ever deployment of the Video/Tele conference courts for the Kuching and Miri High Courts.

With the Video/Tele conference facility, lawyers will not be required to travel to attend outstation cases for interlocutory court hearings in Kuching and Miri. The lawyer will only be required to attend at the video/tele conferencing room in Miri High Court to appear before the judge of Kuching High Court in Kuching for a Kuching case. This will save a lot of travelling time for the lawyers and also expenses for their clients. This facility will be made available to the Sibu and Bintulu High Courts in the near future.

The short messaging system (SMS) technology will be used to notify and remind advocates with regards to the status of their cases. For example, an SMS notification alert informs an advocate of a last minute court hearing rescheduling thus enables him to manage his time accordingly and more efficiently.

With FTS, the court will be able to keep track of the whereabouts of each individual files. The problem of misplaced files should be a thing of the past.

The development and implementation of Video/Tele conferencing, SMS and File Tracking System are made possible with the collaboration of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak, the Sarawak State Government, and Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS).