PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Bar has called for judges to be compensated appropriately, describing the government’s failure to conduct a salary revision for judges since 2015 an “unacceptable state of affairs”.
Bar president Karen Cheah said compensating judges appropriately was a necessary component of judicial independence.
“Attracting talent to the judiciary and maintaining talent within the judiciary while preserving (its) independence is the benchmark we will be striving for,” she said at the opening of the Legal Year at the Palace of Justice here today.
Cheah said a resolution calling for judges to be adequately remunerated and for the establishment of a judges’ remuneration commission was passed at the Bar’s 77th annual general meeting in March last year.
She said an independent commission to periodically assess the compensation payable to judges would help realise the much sought-after goals of judicial independence, objectivity, transparency and consistency.
The initiative, she said, would be advantageous for judges, those aspiring to obtain a judicial role, and the general public.
Cheah said the Bar submitted a copy of its resolution to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin, law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said and the Attorney-General’s Chambers last April.
She said it will continue to drive this initiative this year.
Last week, FMT also reported that a senior lawyer had called on the government to conduct an urgent review of the remuneration packages for judges to attract the best legal talent from the Bar to serve in the judiciary.
He said Singapore has successfully attracted top legal practitioners to serve as judges by offering attractive salary packages.
He said the government should revise the compensation packages urgently as it would only involve some 150 judges. - FMT
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