“Criticism by the general public is always welcome. This is to ensure the accountability of the judiciary,” he told reporters, after officiating the 2016 Legal Year here.
“We (as judges) want people to tell us where we went wrong (in giving decisions),” he said. “Criticism of judgements is part of the Common Law.”
“No one has been arrested for that,” he added.
However, Justice Arifin said that name calling attacks, for instance saying that ‘judges are stupid’, and that ‘judges are enjoying themselves in the Palace of Justice’ should not be part of criticism.
“Name calling is uncalled for. That is considered ‘running down the judiciary’,” he said.
He said that before “shooting attacks” on the judges, he wants the people to scan thoroughly the full judgements before making comments.
“We (as judges) want people to tell us where we went wrong (in giving decisions).”
“But the phenomena here is that people are being emotional. They do not read judgments, and even criticise it before the judgment is out,” he said.