From NST Editorial
Editorial Voice: CONDUCT ABOVE ALL
Monday, August 31, 1998

Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah's call for judges to adhere
to their code of conduct is timely.

As the safeguard of the rule of law, the judiciary should not suffer
from erosion in ideals, integrity and intellectual rigour. It must not
lose sight of the fact that the courts belong to the people and judges
exercise their powers for the people - not for their wives, children,
relatives, persons or office of great height and might. It must take
charge of ensuring its own accountability to litigants as well as the
public.

This requires judges to avoid acts that could create conflicts of
interests. A strict compliance with the code of conduct and abstinence
from situations and associations which may compromise their position
and cast aspersions on their integrity are imperative lest the public
view judges as chameleons that keep changing colours and allegiances.

As innocuous as it may be, presiding over a child's or relative's call
to the Bar raises needless questions on the judge's detachment and
impartiality.

Judicial decision-making should not be actuated by malice, bias or
animus which is why judges should not hear cases represented by law
firms which still used their names despite their resignation from the
firms or are owned by their relatives and where the lawyers appearing
before them are relatives.

It is incumbent on them to keep their behaviour untarnished. They
should give no room and no cause for people to solicit favourable
verdicts from them. As pointed out by Mohtar, they should not receive
free golf club membership or become members of prestigious clubs.

Their behaviour and dealings outside the courts should not denigrate
the noble institution of the judiciary. Indeed, for the sanctity of
democracy and rule of law, probity in a judge's public life has to be
maintained at every cost. And, in doing so, it may entail sacrifices
which could, ultimately, lead to a life devoid of glamour and glitz.
There is much truth in the expression that a judge's life is solitary.

Their code of conduct and the personal responsibility to avoid any
unbecoming conduct are designed to preserve judicial independence
where they can exercise their function uninfluenced by political or
individual interests.

The judiciary should not be subject to the whims of politicians,
electorate, lobby groups - not even to moral judgments which may not
accord with the fundamental values inherent in our legal system.

Its primary responsibility is to uphold legal principles, even when to
do so is unpopular. For example, criticisms of the judiciary have
arisen on the issue of freedom of speech following the Federal Court's
decision to turn down Kota Melaka Member of Parliament Lim Guan Eng's
appeal.

It is worthwhile remembering that the judiciary bears the
responsibility for articulating, within legally permissible bounds,
and developing the body of legal principles which govern the
resolution of disputes in a way that best serve Malaysian society. And
it must do so in a way which maintains stability, coherence and
consistency of the law.

The judiciary's accountability also lies in its duty to provide
reasons for their judgments. In striving to be more open in their
judgments, they should express any judicial discretion or non-legal
considerations that they exercise in a particular case. This would
remove perceptions of prejudice.

Judges must bear in mind that, "justice is not a cloistered virtue and
she must be allowed to suffer the scrutiny and comments of ordinary
people".

http://www.nstpi.com.my/nst


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