Opposition reps will not come to court if lack confidence in Malaysian judiciary
(Malaysia Outlook) – Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria has rubbished claims that public confidence in the judiciary was very low, pointing out that opposition representatives had been queuing up their cases seeking court justice.
“People keep coming to court to resolve disputes … those who criticise the court as unfair, unjust, biased … are the very people who come to court.
“The opposition brings a lot of cases to court against the government. If they have no confidence in the judiciary, I am sure they would not come to court,” said Arifin who is due to retire end of this month.
Restoring public confidence in the judiciary was Arifin’s top priority when he became the country’s 13th Chief Justice in 2011, and it remained his top concern.
In an interview with Bernama at his office in Putrajaya, he recalled being deeply affected by the constitutional crisis of 1988 which ended with the removal of Salleh Abas as the lord president.
“People say that public confidence in the judiciary was at its lowest after that, and there are those who insist it is still low. But I think that things have changed for the better over the years under my predecessors,” he said, giving special mention to Zaki Azmi and Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah.
“Still, I want to bring the judiciary to a higher level to restore public confidence fully,” Arifin said.
The post of lord president was abolished in 1994.
The chief justice is now the country’s top judge.
Arifin believes that an independent judiciary was essential for democracy, and that public confidence was necessary for the justice system to work.
“As judges it is for us to dispense justice the best we can, and as the chief justice, my main intention is to bring back the confidence of the public in the judiciary,” he said.
