The de facto law minister Dr Rais Yatim said that he faces an uphill task in bringing about changes to the judicial system.

In an interview with malaysiakini , Rais however refused to say if he had complete support of the cabinet in his attempts to improve the judiciary.

Stating that he was not going to discuss the views of his cabinet colleagues in that matter, Rais said "on my part, I will have to convince the PM (prime minister) and other cabinets members on the certain line of reasoning that has to take shape for the future of Malaysia".

"I have my own opinions and suggestions to put forward and some of them have taken force in the past two months," he added.

He expressed the hope that his cabinet colleagues will not be too much in "contra" to what his department recommended from time to time.

The judiciary has recently come under intense local and international criticism for the judgments handed down in a number of court cases, perceived by some members of the public as being "politically inspired".

This include the 15-year jail sentences against former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim for corruption and sodomy.

Not much time

Rais said that he will work with the new chief justice, Mohamed Dzaidddin Abdullah, to introduce some reforms, which will be through a well-laid out system of recommendation.

He said that for changes to take place, judges too must change their attitude and their integrity must be put back in place.

"There is not much time and it will also depend on how long I am allowed to do this," said Rais.

He also said that the government must adhere to the calls made by the public for a better judiciary.

"If the public wants a change, the sayings in the corridors now are that if you don't change, you will be changed. We have to be very fair with our environment. We must all deliver to the demands of the public within the realm of fairness," he added.

"Whether my colleagues share that view or not, some of that question will be answered later and some have already answered ... our capacity to change must be consonant with our capacity to do better," he said.