Judiciary Should Be Respected, Not Humiliated - Chief Justice

KOTA BAHARU (Kelantan, Malaysia), July 9 (Bernama) -- Everyone can give their opinion on the country's judiciary or any judicial decision but not to the extent of insulting the institution. Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria said like in other countries such as England, where the people were free to give their opinion because, indirectly, this could bring an improvement to the existing judicial system. "It is good to give such opinions and this can assist us to develop our law. You can also write but not to the extent of committing contempt of court, for example. "We are open and such criticism is normal, and we often hear that there are court decisions that are illogical and so on. Show proof if the judges' decisions are unfair, biased or if there are elements of bribery involved. Prove it...don't just talk," he told reporters after opening the 46th Conference of the Malaysian Judges Council, here on Monday. Also present were Court of Appeal President Raus Sharif, Chief Judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin and the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak, Tan Sri Richard Malanjum. Arifin said as judges, they could not defend themselves against such allegations and this was not fair to the judges. He said the instruction that judges should not forge close relations with politicians and businessmen was to avoid negative perception on the judiciary. "Some of the politicians and businessmen are involved in court cases. This instruction aims to prevent such things (biasness)," he said. Commenting on the statement by former Chief Justice, Zaki Azmi, that the prime minister and members of the cabinet had never given any instruction to the judiciary, Arifin said the statement was true. Meanwhile commenting on the conference attended by 120 judges throughout the country, the Chief Justice said the objective was to enable the judges to exchange views aimed at improving the judiciary further. -- BERNAMA