[The Comparative Public Law Speaker Series] Roundtable on “Malaysia’s Judiciary: Challenges and Future Directions”

The Comparative Public Law Speaker Series presented a very interesting and lively Roundtable on “Malaysia’s Judiciary: Challenges and Future Directions” this morning at 11AM (SGT).

The Panel featured Dr Björn Dressel (Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU), Mr Malik Imtiaz (Malik Imtiaz Sarwar Advocates & Solicitors), Dr Jaclyn Neo (CALS Director) and Moderator, Dr Kevin YL Tan (NUS Law).

The Roundtable included a short presentation by Dr Dressel on a historical and empirical study of Malaysia’s Federal Court, with a focus on appointments, backgrounds and voting patterns through the years. This was followed by a sharing by Dr Neo on the significance of cases involving religion, given their heavy politicisation, making them important lynchpins of Malaysian constitutional change. Dato’ Imtiaz provided a practitioner’s perspective, highlighting significant changes that have occurred within the judiciary in recent years, such as gender diversity and a willingness to accept dissenting judgments. The session also featured a lively Q&A discussion at the end where the Panel tackled questions such as the impact of ethnicity on judicial appointments and judicial decision-making.

This Roundtable was presented by the Centre for Asian Legal Studies (CALS) NUS in collaboration with the ANU Malaysia Institute.

Missed joining us at this event? Catch up on the video recording, due on the CALS Youtube channel soon!