Lawyers are not the main cause for the delay in court proceedings, said Bar Council chairperson Yeo Yang Poh in a statement today.

According to him, there are a multitude of factors which contributed to the delay experienced at the civil and criminal courts.

Citing a recent forum organised by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), he said it became clear at the forum that "the acute shortage of judges, judicial officers and support staff such as interpreters, and cumbersome and time-wasting procedures such as judges having to painstakingly hand-write notes of proceedings" also played a significant role.

Yeo was responding to Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail's remark that lawyers were generally the main cause of delays in civil cases.

Gani said this had affected the public's confidence in the judiciary as cases could drag on for years.

Suhakam report

To improve the situation, Yeo referred to a report by Suhakam which contained useful recommendations.

He said the report should be given serious consideration by the government as it could help improve the system.

"The Malaysian Bar has for many years been urging the authorities to review our system of justice, including increasing capacity of its legal infrastructure in order to cope with the ever increasing volume of cases that the system has to handle. This call is again renewed," he added.