(Borneo Post; March 17, 2007)

by Zora Chan

KUCHING: The first-ever court proceedings via videoconferencing in the country were conducted in Sarawak yesterday.

Judicial Commissioner David Wong Dak Wah of Kuching High Court conducted the historic court proceedings with the Miri High Court. This case involved a civil claim for the return of certain properties where the lawyers in the proceedings made interlocutory applications in chambers before the court, which took about an hour.

Kuching-based lawyer James Lo, appeared for the defendant in Kuching High Court while Mekanda Singh Sandhu, a Miri-based lawyer, appeared for the plaintiff appeared in the Miri High Court.

The plaintiff saved around RM1,000 from a return Kuching-Miri air ticket, taxi to and from the airport and court, and hotel accommodation. The high-tech device also means less time spent on travelling, and clients can save on expenses.

Convenient, efficient and economical, the hi-tech facilities have broken the traditional court proceedings in Malaysia.

Both Lo and Sandhu could also attended to other matters in the Kuching High Court and Miri High Court respectively after the morning’s proceedings.

Yesterday’s proceedings were a follow-up from the recent launching of the tele- and videoconferencing by Chief Justice of Federal Court, Tun Datuk Sri Ahmad Fairuz Datuk Sheikh Abdul Halim.

When this brain-child of Datuk Seri Panglima Richard Malanjum, the Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak, was launched last month, it created a history of sorts for Sarawak for being the first state in Malaysia to use these high-tech facilities in its court proceedings.

The videoconferencing facilities are developed and owned by Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS). It is currently available in Miri and Kuching, while Sibu and Bintulu have only teleconferencing facilities.

These facilities are currently only available for hearing of civil cases, particularly in interlocutory matters that do not take too long.

Lo said the videoconferencing was good and efficient while the audio-visual system was excellent, adding that the facilities provided much convenience for outstation lawyers.

Although there were hiccups in the first proceedings, he believed future videoconferencing would be smoother.

Sandhu said: “It’s a good step because it is very convenient for lawyers, particularly outstation lawyers. The proceedings were like normal (proceedings) and the atmosphere was good.”

He pointed out that the public would also benefit from this technology because lawyers would not have to charge clients for travelling expenses.

He noted that the only difference was there was no gallery for the public.

Meanwhile, High Court in Sabah and Sarawak Registrar Gabriel Gumis Humen invited lawyers to use the facilities. No fees will be charged for the first three months after the launching of the videoconferencing.

He said fees would eventually be charged, but the exact rates had still to be worked out.

“But the fees will definitely be cheaper than having the lawyers to travel to outstation courts. As for the teleconferencing, the fees chargeable are only the cost of the telephone calls made to the stations concerned,” he said.

He added that these facilities would provide much convenience for lawyers, and allow easier and cheaper access to justice.