JUDGES are free to decide on cases without political interference, said Chief Justice Md Raus Sharif.

“As far as the independence of the judiciary (is concerned), I can assure you that we are very independent, free from interference by politicians.

“In fact, you can ask some of the judges appointed from the (Malaysian) Bar – (retired Court of Appeal judges) Mah Weng Kwai, (Mohamad) Ariff Md Yusof and a few others.

“You can ask them if there is any interference, where someone from the top asks them to decide how a case should be decided.

“You can ask all the judges whether the chief justice or Court of Appeal president tells them, ‘hey, this is an important case, you must decide this way’.

“I can assure you that… we tell the judges, ‘you decide according to the law’. And if need be, for example in the magistrate’s court or High Court, if the deputy public prosecutor is not happy, they are free to appeal (at the higher court),” he said during a question-and-answer session at a luncheon talk titled “Judicial Reforms by the Malaysian Judiciary” at Hilton Kuala Lumpur today.

On the public perception that the judiciary is biased towards ruling parties, he said there had been instances where the judiciary decided in favour of opposition parties and against government prosecution.

He called on the media to correct the public perception that the judiciary was partisan and compromised.

He said higher court judges never meddled in matters of the lower courts, nor do they direct lower court judges on how to decide on cases.

“They (judges) are free to decide, independent, in the sense of decision-making, but of course, they’re not independent in terms of their work culture.

“We set the tone for work culture. But as far as decisions are concerned, they are independent.

“You can ask judges if there has been any occasion where people from ministries give them instructions.”

Raus and Court of Appeal president Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin sparked a constitutional controversy when their terms were extended by the Prime Minister’s Office for another three years and two years, respectively, on July 7.

They were appointed to their current posts on April 1, and were due to retire at the age of 66 and six months on August 3 (Raus) and September 27 (Zulkefli).

The Malaysian Bar called an extraordinary general meeting on the matter on August 3, and vowed to file a suit to challenge the unprecedented extension.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said, and former chief justices Arifin Zakaria and and Zaki Azmi had defended the term extensions as constitutional.

Raus’ 50-minute speech today focused on the judiciary’s success in speeding up the processing of cases.

“Almost 100% of cases in the magistrate’s court and 95% of cases in the sessions court, both civil and criminal, are being disposed of within the timeline (between nine and 12 months).”

At the High Court, he said, 91% of civil cases were cleared within nine months, and 92% of criminal cases were disposed of within 12 months.

He said at the Court of Appeal and Federal Court, only 55 and 59 cases initiated before last year remained unresolved.

The numbers of unresolved cases initiated before last year currently stand at 1,868 criminal and civil cases at the High Court, 854 at the sessions court and 182 at the magistrate’s court.

Raus said the judiciary aimed to clear backlog cases by the end of the year.

The luncheon talk was organised by the Malaysia Press Institute and attended by more than 100 people. – October 10, 2017.