RESTORE IMAGE OF JUDICIARY-CHIEF JUSTICE

Chief Justice Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamad

PUTRAJAYA-NST Online: Chief Justice Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamad yesterday urged members of the judiciary to help correct the people's negative perception of the judiciary.

He said the burden to rebuild and restore public confidence in the judiciary, which was at its lowest in the history of the country since independence, rested with every member of the judiciary, right from judges to file searchers.

"Every misconduct of any member of the judiciary will tarnish its image. So, I urge all members of the judiciary, irrespective of positions, from the highest to the lowest, to work together in unison to boost public perception of the judiciary," he said.

Chaos and lawlessness would reign if the public had no faith in the judiciary, he said when presenting excellent service awards to staffers of the Federal Court.

Abdul Hamid said the judiciary was the last bastion for the civil society of a nation, regardless of their perception of other government institutions, but so long as they had confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, there was still room for the people to fight for their rights.
Abdul Hamid was taken aback when informed that the judiciary had no allocation to buy law textbooks since 2004 even though it was allocated funds to buy law journals.

"But I'm happy that this year, we've received RM700,500 to buy law textbooks," he said.

The Chief Justice also congratulated members of the judiciary, including judges, who, despite not receiving excellent service awards, had continued with their good work.

Abdul Hamid also unveiled a five-point work ethic to be practised by members of the judiciary.

He said members of the judiciary must talk to each other whenever they meet, counter staff should not talk too much, must say thank you to the public for paying their dues at the counter, not waste public assets and cut down on ceremonies and focus instead on work. -- Bernama