Chief Justice: US DoJ training Malaysian judiciary on modern-day crimes
Friday, 11 Jan 20193:04 PM MYT
by nurbaiti hamdan
PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian judiciary has been receiving training from the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) on how to handle modern-day crimes, says Tan Sri Richard Malanjum (pic).
The Chief Justice said the DoJ was actively training Malaysian judges and judicial officers on how to handle crimes such as money laundering, cryptocurrency fraud, terrorism and human trafficking.
He said that the DoJ training started last year.
"The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is another international organisation which has been very helpful to our judiciary, especially in handling public interest litigation.
"These types of training take time to mature. Indeed, we must remember that Putrajaya was not built in one day," Malanjum said in his speech at the Opening of the Legal Year 2019 at a hotel here on Friday (Jan 11).
As part of the judges' training, he said they were in talks to bring in senior judges from the United Kingdom to share their experience in effective case management.
"We are also in serious discussion with the Singapore judiciary over knowledge-sharing programmes.
"In March, there will be one programme organised with the help of the Singapore judiciary," he added.
He also encouraged judges to consider imposing community service sentences instead of imprisonment in appropriate cases.
"In this way, not only may rehabilitate the offenders better, it can also save costs for prisons," he said.
At a press conference later, Malanjum clarified that opting for community service as punishment for minor offences instead of jail time would help reduce prison congestion.
Malanjum said there was such a provision to provide for this in the Penal Code.
"The move has been implemented in Sabah, where I feel it is successful. They (offenders) would wear the (prison) attire while doing community service.
"As they face the public, they will then be ashamed, instead of spending one or two weeks in prison," he told reporters.
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/01/11/chief-justice-us-doj-training-malaysian-judiciary-on-modern-day-crimes/#bW1APYrDgSte3dZS.99
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