Women judges and women judicial leaders play an irreplaceable role in modern judiciary
The International Women's Day has been celebrated on 8 March for many years as an important reminder that we need equality in all the areas of life and that women play and must play an irreplaceable role in that. Do we still need such a reminder? Yes, we absolutely do. It is because we can see that women at many places in the world, still do not possess equality and even worse, at some places women still do not possess basic rights. In addition to that, the world needs a balance and equal participation of women is simply essential to that.
In judiciary, women play a very special role. It is not about the equality only, it goes beyond that. In all judiciaries, at national and international courts, judges interpret the law, they decide about others. To be a good judge, it is never sufficient enough to know the law well. In fact, excellent knowledge of the law is an obvious prerequisite for a solid judicial performance. However, we judges should be endowed with something else as well, something that we call a sense for justice, a sense for fairness.
The significance of women judges and my contribution towards equality and the equality of access to justice
On my elevation to the Office of Chief Justice, you would have seen or read popular taglines referring to me as the first woman Chief Justice of Malaysia. Soon after my elevation, I have always stated that my position is not at all determined or indeed, coloured by my gender.
In Malaysia, women are represented in all facets of the judiciary, be it the subordinate court or the superior courts. Therefore, the issue of gender diversity within the Malaysian Judiciary may not be as pervasive as one may think. The former President of the Court of Appeal was a woman and approximately half of the judges in Malaysia are women. In the Federal Court, amongst the eight judges sitting on the Bench, five are women.
Nevertheless, there remain many instances in the legal profession dealing with the concept of access to justice in the context of gender equality. I often emphasise the importance of diversity and representation within the judiciary as it provides female clients representation, a sense of safety and confidence inside the courtroom.
To hide or not to hide? Disclosing finances and interests
In many countries all over the world, judges have to disclose their finances and interests, often to the public and accessible online. The disclosures bring along an administrative burden for judges: they need to fill in a comprehensive set of data for themselves and for their immediate family members; they need to regularly update the data, ideally online, otherwise on paper; and, they need to accept that in most cases these asset declarations are available to the public online, with only sensitive data being redacted, such as addresses, bank account numbers, or number plates.
Digital Transformation and New Technologies: Lessons Learned from Indonesia
Judicial proceedings are often costly and time- and energy- consuming. The geographical situation of Indonesia as the largest archipelagic country in the world with a population of 278 million people certainly also plays a role and affects people's access to justice. Moreover, the number of cases to be dealt with are disproportionately high in relation to the number of court officials, thus causing public dissatisfaction with the court services and deterring people from seeking them. Should these conditions persist, there will be injustice as "justice delayed is justice denied".
To address these obstacles and challenges, the Supreme Court of Indonesia since 2004 has been implementing technology-based solutions to promote a modern, digital-based judiciary that responds to the demands and needs of the community in the era of fast-paced digitalization and digitization. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated the transformation process by demanding the prompt reduction of face-to-face meetings and physical contact. Some of the technology-based solutions put in place in the Indonesian judiciary to date include: digital filing of documents; various online legal services; online trials; the online database of court decisions; or the digital supervision and reporting system.
Public Expressions of Judges: Navigating Between Freedom & Responsibility
Expressing one's opinion as a judge in the public space is a form of manifesting his or her freedom of speech, freedom that also implies a corresponding responsibility due to the function of administering justice that (s)he exercises. The public does not (always) distinguish between the judge and the (wo)man behind the robe. Inappropriate manifestations can have consequences not only for the professional reputation of the judge, but also for the public image of the judiciary and for trust in the act of justice. Therefore, before choosing as judges to express an opinion addressed to the general public or which can become public, we should answer a few questions.