In the past, they said, Malaysian judges had written judgments of standard in English, and were persuasive enough to get their counterparts in the Asean region to quote passages in their decisions.
Whether local judges wrote in English or Malay now, said retired Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram, there should be no erroneous jurisprudence.
“There must be logic in the conclusion reached,” he told FMT.
In the past, he said, Singapore courts had held Malaysian judgments in great respect. But this was no longer the case now as some of the judges did not even understand the subject matter of the dispute.
He said judgments were now lacking in quality, especially in the Court of Appeal, as there was no longer a thirst for knowledge among some of the judges.
“I see some judgments coming from the Court of Appeal as having no head or tail. This is because they were written with no context of the subject matter,” said Sri Ram, whose judgments were adopted by courts in Hong Kong as far back as 1997.
He was responding to Chief Justice Richard Malanjum’s call for Federal Court judges to write their judgments in English, especially for commercial cases, so they could be referred to by other Commonwealth jurisdictions.
Alternatively, he said, they could write in Malay and have the grounds translated into English for reference by foreign judges.
He said this could enhance the image of the Malaysian judiciary.
Lawyer Zainur Zakaria said judges must write in English, especially for complex cases where reference is made to other jurisdictions like the UK, Australia and India.
“It will be easily understood by others when our judges write in English,” the former Malaysian Bar president added.
To produce quality judgments, Zainur said, judges must be well-versed in the subject matter and proficient in English as most reference material outside of Malaysia is written in that language.
“We need judges who have a sound command of English,” he told FMT, adding that quality judgments only come with constant use of the language.
He also suggested that the Judiciary Appointments Commission organise courses to improve the proficiency of judges in English and Malay.
Lawyer Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar Al-Mahdzar said it would take a lot of hard work for the judiciary to regain its past glory.
“Now, we have some judges writing in Malay to conceal their ignorance of the law,” he added.
He said judges were expected to provide judgments to explain to losing parties in clear terms why the case did not go in their favour.
“It is also to establish precedents and encourage intellectual discussion among university students and lecturers on the development of the law,” he said.
He called for Malanjum’s words to be taken seriously, and for an overhaul of the education system to produce quality law graduates.
“We need law students who are conversant in both English and Malay as some of them could one day be elevated to the bench,” he said.