11 February 2020 – Imperial Hotel Kuching
With gratitude and heartfelt appreciation to our beloved Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak on his excellent contribution to the judicial and legal fraternity in Sarawak, almost all judges and judicial officers from the courts all over Sarawak together with many members of the Sarawak Bar joined together to bid farewell to Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima David Wong Dak Wah wishing him a happy retirement after his great contribution in judicial service in all three levels of the superior courts in Malaysia for about 15 years. It was a bitter sweet event where the members from the Sarawak Courts and the Sarawak Bar presented various farewell souvenirs, including a slideshow presentation that featured sweet and warm farewell messages from the members of the Courts in Sabah and Sarawak. Clearly, Tan Sri David Wong will always be remembered as the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak who has always had a very progressive attitude towards the adoption of new technologies followed from the very successful introduction of Case Management System developed by SAINS of Kuching for all the courts in Sabah and Sarawak since 2007 with the idea, initiative and constant encouragement from the former Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum. During the event, Tan Sri David Wong delivered a farewell speech thanking all the members of the Judiciary and Bar for giving him unyielding support and assistance throughout his tenure from being a Judicial Commissioner to the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak.
Tan Sri David Wong has greatly contributed to the Courts and the Sarawak Bar throughout his tenure as the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak. At the beginning of his tenure, the Practice Direction No. 1 of 2018 was issued to all judicial officers and judges in Sabah and Sarawak where counsels are required to make their Oral Submission in all contested civil cases and criminal cases on all salient points of facts, issues and laws of the case at hand on top of the written submissions filed. As for the courts, judges are required to furnish a summary / brief grounds of decision on the delivery of a decision on an interlocutory application followed by a full grounds of decision thereof within 1 month from the date the interlocutory application was allowed, and within 2 months in respect of a decision made after trial. Additionally, Tan Sri David Wong with his modern technology foresight, had introduced the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology since 2019 which is aimed at helping the judges and magistrates to make analyses on the appropriate punishments to be imposed on those who were found guilty in certain criminal offences without affecting the right of the public prosecutor and the defence counsel to submit and comment on the sentencing guidelines generated by the AI system. This AI system will be very helpful to minimise inconsistency of sentences passed in courts in similar cases without affecting the court’s discretion the sentence to be imposed in accordance with the applicable laws based on all the aggravating and mitigating factors of each case. The present Chief Justice Tengku Maimun was impressed with this new technology to improve efficiency in the justice delivery system where it was remarked that “Sabah and Sarawak were ahead in terms of advanced technology which was started much earlier back in 2007. We are in fact learning from Sabah and Sarawak in terms of technology.” Under the guidance of Tan Sri David Wong, the introduction of Mobile Apps and Civil Appeal Management through the e-filing system is another technology advancement in all the courts of Sabah and Sarawak to enable easy and convenient access of the court e-filing system anywhere by the members of the Judiciary and the Bar.
Throughout his judicial career, many landmark judgments were delivered by Tan Sri David Wong including the following recent judgments :- (1) JRI Resources [2019] 5 CLJ 569 (a panel of 9 Judges) where CJSS and former Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum in their respective dissenting judgments ruled that Shariah Advisory Council’s Ruling had the effect of taking away the judicial power of the civil courts and violated the doctrine of separation of powers; (2) Superintendent of Land & Survey Department v. Ratnawati Hasbi [2020] 1 LNS 27 where a dissenting judgment was delivered by CJSS on the constitutional importance of Art. 13 of the Federal Constitution in respect of compulsory acquisition of land in Sarawak; (3) Bellajade Sdn Bhd v. CME Group Bhd [2019] 8 CLJ 1 where an earlier decision of the Federal Court was set aside due to coram failure; (4) The Speaker of Dewan Undangan Negeri of Sarawak v. Ting Tiong Choon & Ors [2020] where Tengku Maimun CJ and David Wong CJSS delivered their respective dissenting judgments on this case of constitutional importance on the doctrine of separation of powers. On 11 February 2020, in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim v. Government of Malaysia & another, David Wong CJSS (in his dissenting judgment concurred by Tengku Maimun CJ) ruled that the National Security Council Act 2016 is unconstitutional as it violated the freedom of movement guaranteed by Art. 9(2) of the Federal Constitution.
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