(Eastern Times; February 6, 2007)

by Gerald Chung

KUCHING: The Short Message Service (SMS), which is quite popular among the public today, can be utilized to inform lawyers of the date, time and status of their cases, the Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak, Dato Seri Panglima Richard Malanjum said yesterday.

Besides SMS, which is the ability to send and receive text messages to and from mobile telephones, he said he would also welcome other constructive inputs and suggestions by the legal practitioners in Sarawak in order to implement a smart working environment for the courts in Sarawak.

"For those intending to appeal to the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court, there is now a sub-registry in the Kuching Courts.

"When it is fully operating, the costs of appeals should drastically be reduced as parties are no longer required to fly to Putrajaya just to file their documents," he said at the opening of Sarawak Legal Year 2007 at the Kuching Court Building in Petra Jaya here yesterday.

Malanjum also disclosed that the Judicial Department had begun setting up special Session Courts for immigration cases and Magistrate Courts for traffic cases to ensure speedier disposal of such cases.

He added that the Sessions Court Judges and the Traffic Magistrates had started to hear cases in Sarawak.

"I hope that with the setting up of such courts, the relevant authorities will take the opportunity to register the ever increasing volume of cases to be dealt with," he said.

He said it would be most unfortunate if despite the setting up of such courts, the number of remand prisoners awaiting trial in detention centres and traffic cases not heard remained high.

According to Malanjum, since his appointment as the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak, he had made it his priority, among others, for the disposal of pending pre-2000 civil and pre-2004 criminal cases in the courts of Sarawak in line with the policy set up decided by the Ketua Hakim Negara.

He pointed out that such an ambitious venture required the assistance and support of all parties concerned and he was happy to note that there had been a huge improvement in the disposal of both civil and criminal cases.

"It is my hope that by the end of April 2007, there should be no more civil cases pending trial for more than six years and criminal cases for more than three years. It therefore entails the commencement of clearance of all pre-2005 civil cases from May 2007 and all pre-2007 criminal cases," he said.

"Until and unless we can reduce the waiting period for hearing of civil cases to 12 months’ maximum and three months’ maximum for criminal cases, we cannot and should not sit back and say that we are doing justice to our society," he added.

Malanjum said this year would be an exciting and interesting year for the courts and the legal profession in Sarawak as several projects were being implemented for the benefit of society and for the cause of justice.

He said one such project was the introduction of the Mobile Court concept which was basically a step forward in bringing the services to the rural folks.

The other project is the greater use of technology in courts, both in the scope of operation and administration, which will be given emphasis this year. To minimize the loss or misplacement of files in the registries, the use of bar coding was being implemented in so that file tracking would be more efficient.

In order to save time and costs, Malanjum said the Sarawak Court, with the assistance of Sarawak Information Network System (SAINS), was now in the final stage of linking the courts in different parts of the state with video conferencing and teleconference facilities. However, for now the system would only be used in civil cases and with the consent of all parties. It would be limited to Miri and Kuching for a start.

He said the use of case management techniques and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) would also be among the programmes for the courts in Sarawak.

In order to face the challenges of globalisation, he urged legal firms in Sarawak to explore the possibility of mergers. He also reminded judicial officers and staff that their position carry the trust and responsibility of the people, and as such, transparency, honesty and integrity must be reflected in the quality of their work and attitude.

Malanjum appealed to fellow judges, judicial officers as well as prosecution and legal practitioners to chart the course and sail through the sunny weather and stormy nights of 2007 with a sense of optimism and pragmatism, to be creative and innovative, to win the people's trust and confidence in the country's judicial system and to uphold the image of the judiciary and the legal profession.

Meanwhile, a procession from the compound of Dewan Undangan Negeri Building to the Courthouse at Petra Jaya was held yesterday to mark the opening of the Sarawak Legal Year 2007. It was participated by members of the judiciary, legal officers and members of the Advocates Association of Sarawak.