(Sarawak Tribune; June 30, 2011)

KUCHING: The Integrated Court System (ICS) has created a tremendous positive impact on court operations by reducing case backlogs and allowing speedy court proceedings resulting in transparency in the government and improvement in the judiciary system.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Liew Vui Keong said this when witnessing the handing over of the e-Kehakiman project to the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak at the Kuching High Court in Petra Jaya here, yesterday.

Liew said the highly effective comprehensive and practical solution was designed to facilitate the work process and promote productivity and efficiency for the judiciary.

He revealed that efforts were on the way to extend the system nationwide.

Some of the component available in the system are the Court Recording and Transcription (CRT) System, Case Management System (CMS), Court Advocate Resource Engagement (CARE), Community and Advocates Portal (CAP) and technology court, Liew said.

He added that through the CMS component, the registration of cases by legal firms would be speedier as they could initiate e-filing online.

"Lawyers can view court schedules online ahead of time, and adjournments on the grounds of not being ready are now rare. ICS has brought benefits by freeing the court's time from manual preparation of cases, schedules and documentation," he added.

Earlier, the Registrar of High Court of Sabah and Sarawak Azahari Kamal Ramli, in his speech said before the availability of e-Kehakiman, there were delays in the filing cases, case files went missing and were hard to be trace, missing of cases for trials that had to be rescheduled many times and causing the cases to be dissolved in between five to 10 years.

However, with the system completed in Dec 2010, everything changed with its systematic cataloguing and organisation of numerous documents in digital form and it provided judges, legal practitioners and the public with a starting point to effectively monitor thier respective cases, the cause lists, judgements as well as notification of court sittings and uploading of court documents and submissions online by parties concerned.

He added the implementation of the court-transaction system had freed judges and court officers from the tedious task of taking down the notes of proceedings and enabled them to fully concentrate on the lawyers and witnesses.

The lawyers appreciated of the fact that they could get the notes of proceedings at the end of each court session. Prior to the system it would have taken manually and needed to be checked and verified by the judge first.

Furthermore the video conferencing facility had saved the courts and lawyers much time and money because for short civil matters, judges and lawyers from outstations would not need to travel to hear cases.

Also speaking at the event was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS) Dato Teo Tien Hiong who said that without the effort and commitment of the Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Datuk Panglima Richard Malanjun and judiciary staff, the integrated court system would not be realised.

Also present at the event was the Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Datuk Panglima Richard Malanjun, Director-General of Law Affairs Datuk Sarifudding Kasim and Federal Court Registrar Datuk Hashim Hamzah.