MALAYSIA Court Backlog and Delay Reduction Program A Progress Report August 2011 Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Sector Unit East Asia and Pacific Region Document of the World Bank Acronyms and Abbrevations AGC Attorney General’s Chambers B/F Balance Forward (pending cases transferred from one year to the next) C Civil (abbreviation for tables) CD Compact Disc CLE Continuing Legal Education CJ Chief Justice CMIS Court Management Information System CMS Case Management System CMU Case Management Unit COA Court of Appeal Cr Criminal (abbreviation for tables) CRT Court Recording and Transcription DfID Department for International Development DNAA Discharged not Amounting to Acquittal DPP Deputy Public Prosecutor GOM Government of Malaysia ICT Information and Communication Technology IEG Independent Evaluation Group IT Information Technology JL Service Judicial and Legal Service KL Kuala Lumpur L/A Leave to Appeal (abbreviation for tables) MJU Managing Judge Unit MIS Management Information System NCC New Commercial Court NCvC New Civil Court NEAC National Economic Advisory Council NKRA National Key Results Areas PEMANDU Performance Management and Delivery Unit RM Malaysian Ringgit ROL Rule of Law USAID United States Agency for International Development USD United States Dollar Acknowledgements This report was prepared by the World Bank in response to a request from the Malaysian Judiciary under the Fee-based Service arrangement. It is intended to be an objective assessment of the Federal Court’s recent reform program aimed at reducing case backlogs and improving efficiency in the judicial services. The report was written by Linn Hammergren consultant) under the direction of Yasuhiko Matsuda (Sr. Public Sector Specialist, EASPR, and Task Team Leader) and overall supervision of Mathew Verghis (Lead Economist for Malaysia, EASPR) and Rob- ert Taliercio (Lead Economist for Public Sector Management, EASPR). The peer reviewers were David Bernstein (Sr. Operations Officer, INTSC) and Barry Walsh (LEGJR). The team acknowledges the generous cooperation extended to the Bank missions by the Federal Court as well as the National Economic Advisory Council and the Economic Planning Unit. It is especially grateful to Chief Justice Zaki Azmi for facilitating the meetings within the Judiciary and with other organizations; to his assistant, Mohd Aizuddin bin Zolkeply for setting up appointments and accompanying the consultant to all meetings; to other Justices of the Federal Court and especially Chief Judge of Malaya, Arifin Zakaria, and Justices James Foong Yuen, Raus Sharif, Abdull Hamid Embong, and Suriyadi Halim Omar for taking part in interviews and ensuring that their staff was available; to members of the Court’s administrative offices and especially Hashim Hamzah, Chief Regis- trar; to the registrars and judges of the Kuala Lumpur and Shah Alam High Courts; and to members of the National Economic Advisory Council, the Legal Affairs Division and the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PE- MANDU) of the Prime Minister’s Department, and the President of the Bar Council, Ragunath Kesavan. Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................... i INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER I: BACKGROUND ON MALAYSIA, ITS LEGAL SYSTEM AND JUDICIAL ORGANIZATION ......................... 2 Country Background ........................................................................................................................................ 2 Judicial Organization, Staffing, and Resource Allocations ............................................................................. 3 CHAPTER II: THE REFORM PROGRAM: 2008 TO PRESENT .................................................................................. 15 Reform History and Overview of Objectives ................................................................................................... 15 Strategy ......................................................................................................................................................... 17 Reform Components ..................................................................................................................................... 19 Next Steps ..................................................................................................................................................... 36 Additional Reform Elements outside the Court Program ............................................................................. 37 Corruption ..................................................................................................................................................... 42 CHAPTER III: ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE 2008-2011 REFORM ............................................................................... 43 Key Indicators of Results as Used Internationally and as Adapted to the Malaysian Program ..................... 44 Other Findings ............................................................................................................................................... 56 Further Recommendations as Regards Further Data Collection and Statistical Reports ................................ 59 CHAPTER IV: LOOKING AHEAD ........................................................................................................................... 61 Areas Already Targeted to Complete the First Phase Reforms and for Work on the Proposed Second Phase ............................................................................................................................ 61 Areas Suggested for Immediate Attention or for Inclusion in Future Programs ........................................... 64 Suggestions for Additional In-Depth Studies and Assessments .................................................................... 70 Administrative Tribunals (and Other Non-Judicial Dispute Resolution Forums) ........................................... 74 Conclusions on Next Steps ............................................................................................................................ 75 CHAPTER V: IN CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 77 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................................... 80 List of Figures Figure 1: Basic Structure of Federal Judiciary ....................................................................................................... 5 Figure 2: Comparison of Disposal of A-Track Cases, High Court Civil Division, KL ................................................ 53 Figure 3: Comparison of Disposal of T-Track Cases, High Court, Civil Division, KL ............................................... 53 Figure 4: Modes of Disposal for KL NCC Cases, September-December, 2009 ...................................................... 57 Figure 5: Percentage of Postponements by Parties, Criminal Cases, Kuala Lumpur, Sessions Court, July 2010 ................................................................................................................................. 58 Figure 6: Percentage of Postponements by Parties, Civil Cases, Kuala Lumpur, Sessions Court, July 201 ........... 58 List of Tables Table 1: Judicial Positions, Authorized and Filled, as of 2011 .............................................................................. 6 Table 2: Comparison of Judges-to-Population Ratio, Selected Countries ............................................................ 7 Table 3: Budgets for Judiciary, 2008-2011, in RM ................................................................................................ 12 Table 4: Comparison of PEMANDU Backlog Reduction Targets for 2010 and Court Backlog Statistics (Violent Crimes Only) ....................................................................................................................................... 41 Table 5: Backlogged Pending Cases for All Courts, End of 2009 and 2010; Numbers of “Backlogged” Cases (those filed before 2009) Still in Courtroom Files ............................................................................................ 46 Table 6: Ageing Lists by Year – All Trial Courts, Civil Cases, 2009-April 2011 ....................................................... 47 Table 7: End of Year Ageing Lists - All Trial Courts, Criminal Cases, 2009-April 2011 .......................................... 48 Table 8: Clearance Rates for Courts by Instance, for 2007-2010 ......................................................................... 49 Table 9: Comparison of Carryover, New Filings, and Dispositions – All Courts, 2009-April 2011 ........................ 50 Table 10: Monthly Pending Cases - New Commercial Court, Kuala Lumpur, September 2009-April 2011 .......... 55 Table 11: Monthly Pending Cases - New Civil Court Kuala Lumpur, October 2010-April 2011 ............................ 56 MALAYSIA Court Backlog and Delay Reduction Program F i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction 1. This study reviews the initial results of efforts by the Federal Court of Malaysia to improve judicial performance, especially in the areas of backlog and delay