LETTER | The justice system in Malaysia needs to be seriously evaluated and drastically revamped if needed by the Pakatan Harapan government in order to bring back confidence to the rakyat, which is sorely lacking at the moment. It is also to purge the image that our justice system is corrupt and that many will not get their due justice.

Enough has been said about our police. They know where they stand and what they will need to do.

As for the court system, which is what this article would like to highlight, there have been complaints by both the plaintiffs and defendants, lawyers as well as judges, that there are corrupt judges who will give judgements favourable to whoever could give them enough incentive.

From newspapers articles reviewed as well as conversations with lawyers and ex-judges, the number is not that small. No matter whether there are many or a few, as long as they are in the system, it will be bad for the country.

 As I have always written in my crime prevention papers, “a society is as good as the people in it”. You have lousy people, you will have a lousy society. Likewise, you have lousy judges, you will have a lousy judiciary.

To clean up the judiciary will take a lot of effect by the relevant authorities such as the law minister and Chief Justice of Malaysia. The rakyat should play their part, especially at this crucial period in our Malaysian history.

I would like to propose the following method to clean up the judiciary, which will not take up so much effort from the relevant authorities.

Firstly, allow the Bar Council to be involved in the process of cleaning up. It will set up its committee to be tasked to collect all reports on dubious judgments made by judges from their members, i.e. the lawyers. These lawyers will provide information on their cases as well as reasons why they believe that the judgments made for their cases are questionable. 

The committee at the Bar Council, like the Institutional Reform Committee (IRC), will deliberate to see if there is any doubt to these judgements. The committee will act as the first stage of vetting of the cases reported. 

Secondly, cases which are dubious will then be referred to the law minister or the Chief Justice of Malaysia who will have his committee to look into the reports of the Bar Council. 

Thirdly, should there be any judges who are suspected of being corrupt or have abused their power, they will then be referred to the MACC for further action.

It should be noted that all the members of the committees must have impeccable integrity. This exercise is very much needed to bring back the trust and integrity of the judiciary in the country as well as internationally. 

It is a very important first step for the country to clean up corruption. The government is not alone in cleaning up the country. The rakyat is ever ready to give a helping hand.

TEH YIK KOON is the author of the book, “From BMF to 1MDB: A Criminological and Sociological Discussion” which was published prior to GE14.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.