Justice Audit Malaysia

Source Documents

Court Mapping.pdf

Courts Infrastructure (2011)

Slide 14 shows the distribution of the subordinate courts (Sessions and Magistrates Courts) around the country as well as the staffing in each. In some regions (such as Sabah) reliance is placed on judges and magistrates going ‘on circuit’ where the case volume does not justify the establishment of permanent court. All the courts visited by the audit team (in Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Sabah) appeared modern and fully equipped with court recording and transcription (CRT) systems that had been recently installed.
 
The judiciary appears generally to be operating without its full complement of judges and magistrates:
•    The Court of Appeal has an establishment of 32 judges but 24 were filled as of January 2012.
•    The High Court has an establishment of 73 judges, with 62 filled and the support of 31 Judicial Commissioners.
•    The Sessions Court has an establishment of 157 judges, with 138 filled.
•    The Magistrates Court has an establishment of 193 magistrates with 157 filled.

Malaysia has (rounded up) 2 judges per 100,000 citizens. A glance at comparative figures in other countries provides some context. Thailand has 6.8 (per 100,000); Philippines: 2 – Australia: 4.4 – England and Wales:    3.5 (not counting roughly 30,000 lay justices of the peace).

Judicial pay scales differ between the superior courts (Federal Court, Appeal Court and High Court) and subordinate courts (Sessions and Magistrates Courts). The latter are paid in line with salary scales set by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission while the superior court judges are paid directly by the judiciary.

A magistrate can expect to start at RM1,989.45. In addition, allowances in for example Kuala Lumpur may result in supplements per month amounting to almost RM1,000.

A judge of the Superior Courts may expect between RM29,700 to RM55,000 per month.

Aside from short courses provided by ILKAP, training for new magistrates appears to be ‘on the job’. A magistrate (Penang) described her first posting by the LJSC where he started with a two week attachment with a senior magistrate in which he observed the procedure in all the courts and sat with a Senior Assistant Registrar for one week. There was no formal preparation: ‘you just start’.

New Magistrates spoke of the need for a formal course over 4-8 weeks (especially those who have not done any ‘chambering’) to include: civil and criminal procedure, sentencing principle and practice and judgment writing.

The training budget allocated to the judiciary in 2011 was RM 400,000 ($130,000).

The courts generated income in 2011 in the total sum of: RM 351,465,024.  This is paid into the Federal Consolidated Fund. The amount in 2011 is up by almost RM 100 million on previous years (RM257,541/2010; RM251,984/2009).