KUANTAN, March 30 ― Former judges should not issue statements without supporting statistics or facts, said Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria.

He said former judges are looked up highly by the society, who took their statements seriously, and as such, they should exercise caution when doing so.

"If (you) want to issue a statement, do your research first, instead of just making general statements. This is not fair to the judiciary (making statements without giving statistics or doing research first,” he added.

He told this to reporters after launching Phase 2 of Malaysia's eCourts digitisation project at the Kuantan Court Complex here yesterday.

Also present were Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, Kuantan High Court judge Datuk Seri Mariana Yahya and Federal Court Chief Registrar Datuk Seri Latifah Mohd Tahar.

Arifin said this in response to a statement by former Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah, who said that judges were soft in meting out sentences, especially in sentencing individuals convicted of corruption.

Arifin said he was shocked with the statement by Mohd Noor.

"As a retired judge, or even any judge, if we want to issue statements, we have to back up with statistics or cases,” he said.

On the eCourts digitisation project, Arifin said the online system was developed last December and would be expanded to cover all civil and criminal cases at all courts. ― Bernama