An evaluation on restoration of judicial independence in Malaysia

• Main Authors: Kamaliah, Salleh, Mohd Fuad, Husaini, Noor ‘Ashikin, Hamid
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: K Law (General); Z719 Libraries (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/1033/1/FH03-FUHA-17-08035.pdf; http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/1033/
• Institution: Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin

The judiciary, being an important legal institution in our country, is commended with the power to resolve disputes. It is therefore expected that this institution runs independently from other governmental organs i.e. the executive and the legislature. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the role of the Judicial Appointment Commission in restoring public confidence towards the judiciary independence in Malaysia. To achieve the above purpose, this research examines the perception on the Malaysian judiciary, the current development of Judicial Appointment Commission, its criticisms and recommendation towards enhancement of judicial independence. The methodologies used in this qualitative research are library research and focus group interviews. For library research, relevant data from primary and secondary law documents were analysed. For focus group interviews, the interviewees were judges and legal practitioners, and their response and answers were analysed. Thus the findings represent the actual position from theory as well as practice. It answered the reality of the challenges taken by the government to reflect the transparency and accountability of judicial institution through the appointments and promotions process, which are still being subject to numerous critiques.