PUTRAJAYA, Dec 5 — The judiciary is exploring plans to establish a standalone court building for the Commercial Court division in Kuala Lumpur, with the aim of boosting investors’ confidence in Malaysia, the Chief Justice said today.

Chief Justice of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh said the judiciary plans to enable quick resolution of commercial court cases.

“When they feel that the judiciary is independent, they are confident in investing in our country, so that is the most important thing.

“So what I have in mind is the Commercial division of the High Court, we are going to enhance them, to appoint more judges, so that we can deliver decisions in commercial disputes as quickly as possible.

“So what we have in mind is we are going to set up a different Commercial Court, also in KL, to enable specialised judges to be handling the commercial matters. And I hope by next year, we are going to have about at least eight to 10 commercial judges in the Kuala Lumpur High Court,” he said during a group interview with the media at the Palace of Justice in conjunction with his 100 days in office.

Currently, in the Kuala Lumpur court complex, there are already courtrooms with High Court judges and judicial commissioners dedicated to hearing and deciding on commercial cases.

When asked later to clarify the plans for a new Commercial Court building, the chief justice said: “We are exploring that.”

Wan Ahmad Farid spoke about the Commercial Court division, when he was asked to elaborate on his first-ever speech as CJ on August 6 of the need to have more specialised High Court divisions.

As for the High Court’s Family division which decides on matters such as divorces, Wan Ahmad Farid said the judiciary currently authorises certain gazetted Sessions Court judges to help deal with matters such as joint petitions for divorce cases, in a bid to help clear backlog in cases faster.

“We hope to lessen the burden of the High Court, but it is not enough. We are thinking of giving more powers to senior Sessions Court judges to handle other matters,” he said.

He cited the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act’s Section 2, which enables the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to gazette --- based on the judiciary’s advice --- and authorise Sessions Court judges to hear family court cases.

He said the judiciary could explore this option for senior Sessions Court judges to hear other family court matters beyond just joint petitions, and that this could enable Family Court judges at the High Court level to have more room to handle other complicated matters.

Later, Wan Ahmad Farid also announced the “good news” of the judiciary’s plans to build a “new courthouse in Shah Alam”.

When asked about the planned location for the new court building in Shah Alam, he said the judiciary is “exploring that quite soon”.

Wan Ahmad Farid was sworn in as the 17th CJ on July 28, which means his 100th day in office was on November 5.

Today, he said it had never crossed his mind or dreamt that he would be appointed as CJ, but also noted he had heard that the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) had recommended him for the position. He said he could ask to look at the JAC file regarding this, but he has chosen not to do so: “I simply refuse to call for the file.”

Noting that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had decided on his appointment as CJ after consulting with the Conference of Rulers, Wan Ahmad Farid said he had consulted his predecessor Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and that she had congratulated him: “I believe that is a recognition in itself and I have to move on”.

“What I have discovered so far is that Chief Justices come and go, but what I have in mind, in whatever that is left in my tenure, is to have a long-term policy, just like a Rancangan Malaysia and also a blueprint for the next 10 years for the judiciary,” he said, adding that he hopes to outline how the judiciary would address issues such as backlog in court cases, diversity of judges, inability of some judges to complete their written judgments within time, and the Family division of the High Court.