Judges must be good at BM, English to enhance image, say legal minds

The Palace of Justice in Putrajaya. Lawyers and retired judges say some judgments written in Malaysia were used as reference by courts in other Commonwealth nations as recently as 10 years ago. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 17, 2016.Malaysian judges must be proficient in both English and Bahasa Malaysia to produce quality written judgments as the legal system is closely connected to the British Common law, lawyers and a retired judge said.

They said judicial officers must be conversant in the national language as most witnesses these days gave evidence in Bahasa Malaysia during trials.

But those appointed to the bench must also be proficient in English as law reports from other Commonwealth jurisdictions, like India, Hong Kong and Singapore, were in that language, they said.

Senior lawyer Datuk Bastian Pius Vendargon said those appointed to the bench were expected to be conversant in both languages in order to be competent.

"To be a competent judge one must have a good grasp of both languages," he said, in commenting on Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria's recent statement that judges could write judgments in Bahasa Malaysia if they were more comfortable in the national language.

Bastian said that writing good judgments was essential for improving the judiciary, given the numerous adverse comments on the quality of court decisions.

Arifin said at the opening of the legal year on January 8 that the Judicial Academy under the Judicial Appointments Commission conducted training for High Court judges on writing judgments, and that their judgments were monitored after the training session.

"There is no choice, this is the only way we can help to improve the quality.

"But don't be disheartened," he added.

Bastian said he expected judges to be good in both languages as they would have worked as lawyers in government or private practice.

He said Arifin's call to his judges to write in Bahasa Malaysia implied they were weak in English.

Meanwhile, retired judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram (pic, right) said up to 10 years ago, Malaysian judgments written in English were relied upon by judges from Singapore.

"The present quality of judgments is suspect because they lacked judicial appreciation of evidence and conclusion of facts," he said.

He said with the exception of a few, current judgments failed to analyse evidence and discuss case laws.

Sri Ram, whose judgments have been quoted in Hong Kong cases, said there were many judicial pronouncements by English-trained Malaysian judges in the early years which were referred in other Commonwealth countries.

He said judgments in Bahasa Malaysia would be of little help to judges outside Malaysia even if they were of quality.

Meanwhile, criminal lawyer Salim Bashir said the issue was not about writing in Bahasa Malaysia or in English but producing quality judgments for the legal fraternity and the man in the street to understand.

"The grounds written in either language must be reasoned and well-written," he said.

Salim, who is also Selangor Bar Committee chairman, said judges of yesteryears who wrote judgments in English were brief and straight to the point.
    
"Some of the quality landmark judgments that were concise discussed the facts of the case and the application of law succinctly," he said.

He said a judgment, especially in criminal cases, must be able to withstand scrutiny by superior court judges and counsel during appeal, failing which the bench may have to use its judicial power to correct an injustice to aggrieved parties.

He said lawyers could also raise the judgment as grounds for appeal if it made little sense or the trial judge made grave errors in arriving at his findings.

- TMI