During Zaki Azmi's three-year tenure as chief justice, he recruited six judges from the ranks of lawyers.
While this is considered a big number, Zaki said it was no easy task because lawyers taking up the role of judges could face a pay cut.
“I wanted to take more. Two more. I was trying to ask them to come. (But at the) last minute they declined. Gaji tak cukup (Not enough pay),” he said in a recent interview.
According to Zaki, a “good quality” lawyer can make up to more than RM1 million a year and is likely to earn far less as judge.
“Suddenly, (when) they become a judge, they earn RM400,000. Who wants to come (into the judiciary)? Proton Saga or Proton Perdana?” he asked.
An answer to this, said Zaki, would be to ensure that the judges are properly remunerated.
Although he did not reveal how the judge's salary scale works, Zaki said he believes that even a junior judge is paid more than the chief secretary to the government.
Zaki's administration had raised the wages of judges, by his estimate, up to 40 percent in recent years. And it wasn't just serving judges who secured a pay rise.
Amendments to the Judges Remuneration Bill 1971 were passed in July to reduce the number of years that the nation's top four judges have to serve in order to qualify for a full pension - it went down from 10 years to just three years.
The amendments took effect retrospectively from Jan 1, 2009.
Incidently, Zaki was appointed Court of Appeal president in December 2007 and retired as chief justice on Sept 14 this year at the age of 66.
Earlier this month, Zaki had denied claims by some lawyers that the amendments had been made solely for his benefit.
He said these were meant to benefit previous senior judges such as former chief justice Salleh Abas, former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim, and former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Mohamad Jemuri Serjan.
He did not reveal what he would receive in ex-gratia payment, but described a RM2 million figure as “utter rubbish”.
Zaki had a successful corporate law career with Sharizat Rashid and Lee and was a board member in several big companies. He was also an audit committee member for national oil company Petronas and construction giant SP Setia Bhd Group.
In Umno, he was once the disciplinary committee deputy chief and party legal advisor.
Backlog reduced
Zaki believes that his corporate experience was the very reason he was approached by then premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to join the bench in 2007.
As chief justice, Zaki was known for carrying out spot checks to ensure that courts around the country are operating efficiently.
“If I want to run my own business, that is what I would do. I would go table to table. (Sometimes I would ask) 'Why is this letter still lying here?' I would do that. And I could only do that if it was a surprise check.
“Otherwise, everything will be clean before I go and tomorrow after I leave, everything would be back to square one.”
He said that his deputy and heads of other courts have been supportive of his reforms, while some court staff worked long hours and throughout the weekend to implement the changes.
“Until now I don't understand how they did it, but they did it and I give them credit for this,” he said.
The World Bank and the Bar Council have both lauded the judiciary's recent effort to clear the backlog of cases by some 90 percent.
Zaki said that if one has to wait 10 to 15 years for a case to be decided, then there would be “no justice”.
“I didn't regret accepting the appointment (as chief justice) because I was given the opportunity to clear the backlog (which), to me, was very important,” he added.
While this is considered a big number, Zaki said it was no easy task because lawyers taking up the role of judges could face a pay cut.
“I wanted to take more. Two more. I was trying to ask them to come. (But at the) last minute they declined. Gaji tak cukup (Not enough pay),” he said in a recent interview.
According to Zaki, a “good quality” lawyer can make up to more than RM1 million a year and is likely to earn far less as judge. “Suddenly, (when) they become a judge, they earn RM400,000. Who wants to come (into the judiciary)? Proton Saga or Proton Perdana?” he asked.
An answer to this, said Zaki, would be to ensure that the judges are properly remunerated.
Although he did not reveal how the judge's salary scale works, Zaki said he believes that even a junior judge is paid more than the chief secretary to the government.
Zaki's administration had raised the wages of judges, by his estimate, up to 40 percent in recent years. And it wasn't just serving judges who secured a pay rise.
Amendments to the Judges Remuneration Bill 1971 were passed in July to reduce the number of years that the nation's top four judges have to serve in order to qualify for a full pension - it went down from 10 years to just three years.
The amendments took effect retrospectively from Jan 1, 2009.
Incidently, Zaki was appointed Court of Appeal president in December 2007 and retired as chief justice on Sept 14 this year at the age of 66.
Earlier this month, Zaki had denied claims by some lawyers that the amendments had been made solely for his benefit.
He said these were meant to benefit previous senior judges such as former chief justice Salleh Abas, former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim, and former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Mohamad Jemuri Serjan. He did not reveal what he would receive in ex-gratia payment, but described a RM2 million figure as “utter rubbish”.
Zaki had a successful corporate law career with Sharizat Rashid and Lee and was a board member in several big companies. He was also an audit committee member for national oil company Petronas and construction giant SP Setia Bhd Group.
In Umno, he was once the disciplinary committee deputy chief and party legal advisor.
Backlog reduced
Zaki believes that his corporate experience was the very reason he was approached by then premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to join the bench in 2007.
As chief justice, Zaki was known for carrying out spot checks to ensure that courts around the country are operating efficiently. “If I want to run my own business, that is what I would do. I would go table to table. (Sometimes I would ask) 'Why is this letter still lying here?' I would do that. And I could only do that if it was a surprise check.
“Otherwise, everything will be clean before I go and tomorrow after I leave, everything would be back to square one.”
He said that his deputy and heads of other courts have been supportive of his reforms, while some court staff worked long hours and throughout the weekend to implement the changes.
“Until now I don't understand how they did it, but they did it and I give them credit for this,” he said.
The World Bank and the Bar Council have both lauded the judiciary's recent effort to clear the backlog of cases by some 90 percent.
Zaki said that if one has to wait 10 to 15 years for a case to be decided, then there would be “no justice”.
“I didn't regret accepting the appointment (as chief justice) because I was given the opportunity to clear the backlog (which), to me, was very important,” he added.
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