PUTRAJAYA, Dec 5 — Did you know that there are mobile courts in Malaysia that travel to where you are, instead of you being the one to travel to court complexes that are located far away?

Previously, Chief Justice Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh on August 6 noted that mobile courts have been bringing legal services directly to communities in remote areas in Sabah and Sarawak, and there are plans to expand this to Peninsular Malaysia.

When asked for the latest status of such plans, Wan Ahmad Farid today told the media: “The government has already approved for mobile courts in each state, so we have one in every state.”

Wan Ahmad Farid said that having mobile courts — which includes special child-friendly vans — helped child witnesses to give evidence about sexual offences that have been committed against them.

“When I spoke in Riyadh last week in an international conference, they were quite surprised that we are this advanced in ensuring the safety of the child witness in giving evidence.

“And we are the best in the world, I can say that. Because in so far as sexual offences are concerned that involves a minor, we take care of the witness from her house to the court,” he said in a group interview with the media at the Palace of Justice here in conjunction with his 100 days in office.

He noted that a child who is a victim of a sexual crime faces two kinds of trauma, namely when the incident took place, and when they testify in court and have to recall what happened.

The trauma is heightened especially when the perpetrator of the crime is a close family member such as an uncle, father or brother, he said.

To help these children, Wan Ahmad Farid said a special van is provided as part of the mobile courts for them to testify as a witness.

“If it’s in court, we have a special room that is very child-friendly, so that they can give evidence in that room, not in the courtroom,” he said, adding that such measures help secure more conviction in cases involving sexual offences against children.

Apart from helping children such cases, Wan Ahmad Farid said mobile courts also see magistrates going around to remote areas to handle minor cases such as traffic offences.

“And there are situations where the witness is a person with disabilities, vegetative state, so the court will go to them.

“And there are certain courts which don’t have lift facilities — the one in Seremban — for example, those who are wheelchair bound, it’s very difficult, so the court will go to them,” he said.

It is understood that mobile courts have also been used on occasions when there are insufficient courtrooms, or for trial to be conducted while a court is under construction.

On October 10, the prime minister in his Budget 2026 speech said the mobile court service is being expanded to include the Mobile Labour Court and Mobile Children’s Court, with modified vehicles for the hearing of cases and also child-friendly witness rooms.

On October 29, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said had told the Dewan Rakyat that the judiciary had told her that child witnesses were able to testify quicker and without feeling nervous when they testified in the vans used in the mobile courts brought to them, as compared to when they were brought to court buildings.