Anwar to pay Mahathir RM70k in costs....

Judges have wide discretion to write their grounds of judgment either in the national language Bahasa Malaysia or English.

In delivering the ruling today, the Federal Court also dismissed Anwar Ibrahim's appeal against a Court of Appeal judgment over a defamation suit he had filed in 2006 against Dr Mahathir Mohamad because it was in English. The appellate court judgment was however written in English.


Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Arifin Zakaria said this morning that the grounds of judgment do not constitute part of a judgment. He nonetheless declared that the court views seriously the use of the national language in courts. Justice Arifin cited a 1990 circular by former Chief Judge of Malaya, Justice Hashim Yeop Sani, in which he said that at least one judgment must be written in the national language.

Following the decision - which led to the appeal being struck out - Arifin ordered Anwar to pay costs of RM70,000, although Mahathir's lawyer VK Lingam had applied for RM100,000. Lingam said he had to prepare more than 2,000 pages of documentation with two other lawyers. He further said a benchmark must be set for leave applications in Federal Court cases, citing a decision where the apex court had agreed to award RM100,000.

Karpal had raised a novel constitutional issue at the apex court on Sept 27, when he said all written judgments should be in Bahasa Malaysia. He was making a preliminary objection after the Court of Appeal dismissed Anwar's appeal last December on the grounds that it was not submitted in the national language. Ironically, the court's judgment itself was rendered in English.

Karpal then asked the apex court to compel the Court of Appeal to write its judgment in Bahasa Malaysia, after which Anwar's appeal application could proceed. “Most of the written judgments in civil or criminal cases are in English at all levels of the court,” he said. “Hence, this brings into question the validity in the jurisdiction of all those judgments which are written in English.”

Karpal said Section 8 of the National Language Act states that all proceedings (other than the giving of evidence) in the Federal Court, Court of Appeal, the High Court or any subordinate court shall be in the national language. “This provision also applies to judges, as this does not provide them with the exception of writing judgments in English,” he said.

His lawyer Karpal Singh said he would consider filing a review. Arifin led a three-member panel also comprising Federal Court judge Justice James Foong and Court of Appeal judge Justice Suriyadi Halim Omar.

source:malaysiakini

My RM70k question is does language has boundaries when you need to serve justice?......

cheers.