Legal aspects of electronic communication involving the Malaysian courts

• Main Author: Mohamad, Ani Munirah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Future Academy 2018
• Subjects: K Law (General)
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/26221/1/UUMILC2017%20247%20253.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/26221/; http://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2018.12.03.23
• Institution: Universiti Utara Malaysia

As government agencies increasingly adapt to the electronic medium in line with the Malaysian ICT agenda and policies, communications involving government agencies have also shifted from paperbased to paper-less. Being part of the government system, the courts have also begun resorting to electronic communication with third parties. However, scarce resources were found on the context of such electronic communication by the courts, particularly on the compliance of such communication with the legal rules. Hence, this paper deliberates on the legal aspects of electronic communication by the Malaysian courts in light of the Electronic Government Activities Act 2007 (“2007 Act”) and various practice directions of the courts. Engaging in full qualitative research, this study involved the collection of primary data in the form of interviews from four case studies conducted at multiple courts in Malaysia. The interviews were triangulated with secondary data in the form of written rules, court cases, journal articles, reports and other literary works. The study found that there are various means of online messages made by the courts, such as via electronic mail, websites, advocates portal and the case management system. Such messages are communicated to various parties, such as the Prison Department, Police Department, the Bar Council, lawyers representing the litigants, and members of the public. In essence, the electronic communication by the courts conforms to the legal provisions of the 2007 Act. Hopefully this paper would contribute to the body of knowledge on the subject matter of electronic government and electronic messages.