PUTRAJAYA, Nov 27 — Justice is not about the decisions we made but how exactly we arrived at that decision, Chief Justice of Malaysia Tan Sri Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said today.
During her speech at the launch of the Malaysian Judiciary Yearbook 2018 and Journal of the Malaysian Judiciary July 2019, she therefore said it is important for judges to always endeavour to write their grounds of judgement as they may hold greater significance than the decision itself.
She said this is pertinent as judges are not able to publicly respond to criticisms, comments, or baseless allegations against their judgements.
“I realise it may not be necessarily true, our subject review may always be expressed mutually in scholarly writing or through academia generally.
“Hence I must congratulate the efforts of my inner brother and sister judges for the extra judicial writing as crystallised in the both publications,” Tengku Maimun said at the Palace of Justice here.
Tengku Maimun said readers of the journal would be able to glimpse a lighter side of the judges as they could freely express their views without being confined to the justice of any given case.
She also sung praises of the publications, stating that she had the distinct pleasure of observing the variety and brevity of the writings within as it represented a compendium of scholarly articles on various area of the law.
Also present during the publications’ launch were various judges of the Federal Court, Court of Appeal and High Court, and judicial officers.
Meanwhile Federal Court judge Tan Sri Idrus Harun, who is also the editor for both publications, said the Judiciary encouraged judges to contribute to scholarship as it is generally accepted that the role of judges is not strictly confined to the courtroom.
“Judges ought to view the exercise of writing academic articles as useful intellectual self-reflection and also as a significant facet of the educational and learning process.
“It has to be admitted that the traditional role of a judge requires him to be impersonal and thus to avoid injecting his or her personal views into the law,” he said in his speech.
Therefore, Idrus said, the very nature of the role inhibits judges’ opportunity to integrate their subjective learning or to engage in rigorous intellectual self-criticism.
The Journal of the Malaysian Judiciary has been issued biennially since its inaugural publication in July 2016.
In the 193-paged journal, readers would find articles offering fresh and analytical perspectives on a wide range of subjecting including constitutional law, criminal law, company law and competition law contributed by sitting judges in the Judiciary.
As for the Malaysian Judiciary Yearbook, the publication showcases a complete overview of the significant events and activities of the Judiciary for the year over a span of 249 pages in total.
