The “Writing Better Judgments 2/2023” Course was held on 21 st -23 rd September 2023 (Thursday-Saturday) at Zenith Hotel Putrajaya. The course objective was to achieve the 5Cs in judgment writing to be clear, concise, comprehensive, coherent and convincing.

This three-day course consisted of 12 sessions namely “Why Good Judgments Matter?”, “Issues Based Approach to Judgment Writing: The Conceptual Framework”, “The First Page and Creating Headings”, “First Breakout Group Session: Individual Feedback Session and Exercise on Re-writing the First Page and Creating Headings”, “The Structural Construct of an Issues Based Judgment”, “Issues Based Approach Judgment Writing in Criminal Cases”, “Challenges of Judgment Writing”, “The Road to Judgment”, “Second Breakout Group Session: Workshop – Review of the Re-written First Page and List of Headings”, “Managing Procrastination and Competing Priorities”, “Workshop on Practical Issue Identification” dan “Third Breakout Group Session: Workshop – Review of The Re-written Submitted Judgment”.

Each participant was given a task to rewrite a sample of judgment ground based on the suggested principles in this course and then submitted the judgement to the facilitators of their respective groups. The participants were divided into four groups consisting of five members per group. The participants of each group were guided by three facilitators who are Judges from Federal Court and the Court of Appeal.

A total of 20 participants consisting of 12 High Court Judges and eight Judicial Commissioners participated in the course. The facilitators of this course were The Right Honourable Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abang Iskandar bin Abang Hashim, President of the Court of Appeal, Malaysia; The Right Honourable Tan Sri Dato’ Abdul Rahman bin Sebli, Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak; The Honourable Dato’ Zabariah binti Mohd. Yusof, Federal Court Judge; The Honourable Dato’ Sri Hasnah binti Dato Mohammed Hashim, Federal Court Judge cum the Chairman of the Training Committee of Malaysian Judicial Academy; The Honourable Dato’ Mary Lim Thiam Suan, Federal Court Judge; The Honourable Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, Federal Court Judge; The Honourable Dato’ Nordin bin Hassan, Federal Court Judge; The Honourable Dato’ Abu Bakar bin Jais, Federal Court Judge; The Honourable Datuk Abdul Karim bin Abdul Jalil, Federal Court Judge; The Honourable Datuk Hanipah binti Farikullah, Judge of the Court of Appeal; The Honourable Datuk Seri Kamaludin bin Md Said, Judge of the Court of Appeal; The Honourable Dato’ Lee Swee Seng, Judge of the Court of Appeal; The Honourable Datuk Hajah Azizah binti Haji Nawawi, Judge of the Court of Appeal; The Honourable Datuk Vazeer Alam bin Mydin Meera, Judge of the Court of Appeal; The Honourable Datuk Ravinthran a/l N. Paramaguru, Judge of the Court of Appeal; and The Honourable Dato’ Che Mohd Ruzima bin Ghazali Judge of the Court of Appeal; and The Honourable Datuk See Mee ChunJudge of the Court of Appeal.

The “Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952” Course was held on 4h August 2023 (Friday) at the Conference Hall, Palace of Justice, Putrajaya. The objective of this seminar was to provide Judges with a comprehensive understanding of material aspects of the law on Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952. This programme was the fourth programme under the Judicial Academy Malaysia in 2023. A total of 30 participants consisting of four Judges of the Court of Appeal, and 26 Judicial Commissioners attended this programme.

The one-day programme began with an opening address by The Honourable Dato’ Sri Hasnah binti Dato’ Mohammed Hashim, Federal Court Judge cum Chairman of the Training Committee, the Judicial Academy Malaysia. The programme was then continued with two talks in the morning session on “Duty of Trial Judge at the End of the Case for the Prosecution and at the Conclusion of the Trial (Part 1)” by The Honourable Dato’ Zabariah binti Mohd. Yusof, Federal Court Judge, and “Duty of Trial Judge at the End of the Case for the Prosecution and at the Conclusion of the Trial (Part 2)” by The Honourable Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, Federal Court Judge. Meanwhile the talk on “Common Mistakes Made by a Trial Judge” was delivered in the afternoon session by The Honourable Dato’ Nordin bin Hassan, Federal Court Judge; and The Honourable Dato’ Hashim bin Hamzah, Judge of the Court of Appeal.

This one-day programme started on the morning of 28th July 2023 (Friday) with a visit by members of the Judicial Appointments Commission led by The Right Honourable Tun Tengku Maimun binti Tuan Mat, Chief Justice of Federal Court, Malaysia cum Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission to the Pulau Pinang State Court Heritage Building. Statistics Reports of Pulau Pinang High Court and Statistics Reports of Pulau Pinang Lower Court were presented as part of the visit. Meanwhile, the Meeting of Judicial Appointments Commission No. 8/2023 was held in the afternoon at Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa Pulau Pinang. Court of Appeal statistics were presented in the meeting by Puan Jumirah binti Marjuki, Registrar of the Court of Appeal.

The course of “Section 302 of the Penal Code 2/2023” was held in the Conference Hall, Palace of Justice, Putrajaya on 8th September 2023 (Friday). The objective of this course was towards a better understanding of Section 302 of the Penal Code.

A total number of 29 participants had attended the course, consisting of five Judges of the Court of Appeal, 22 Judges of the High Court, and two Judicial Commissioners. This course was also attended by The Honourable Dato’ Sri Hasnah binti Dato’ Mohammed Hashim, Federal Court Judge cum Chairman of the Training Commitee, Judicial Academy; and The Honourable Dato’ Mary Lim Thiam Suan, Federal Court Judge cum Member of the Training Commitee, Judicial Academy. Facilitators consisting of three Federal Court Judges have assisted the course namely The Honourable Dato’ Nordin bin Hassan, The Honourable Dato’ Abu Bakar bin Jais, and The Honourable Datuk Abdul Karim bin Abdul Jalil.

The participants were divided into four groups with a membership of seven or eight people per group. Each group was required to discuss specific topics related to this course and then presented the results of the discussion. The topics of the discussion are “The Offence of Murder and the Offence of Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to Murder Under the Penal Code – Concept and Elements of The Offences”, “Distinguishing Features and Application of Sections 34 and 149 of the Penal Code”, “The Defence of Insanity Under Section 84 of the Penal Code”, and “Treatment of Expert and Corroborative Evidence”.