Chief Justice Dato Seri Paduka Steven Chong and a delegation of senior judicial officers from Brunei Darussalam joined the inaugural Council of ASEAN Chief Justices’ (CACJ) Retreat in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recently.
The event, coinciding with the opening ceremony of the 14th ASEAN Law Association (ALA) General Assembly and the ASEAN Moot 2023 Finals, was hosted by the Malaysian judiciary.
The retreat saw Chief Justice Dato Seri Paduka Steven Chong joining the CACJ 10th anniversary celebration at Istana Kehakiman in Putrajaya, Malaysia. This commemoration included the launch of several initiatives including CACJ Model Rule on the Service of the Civil Process; CACJ Model Rule on the Taking of Evidence for Foreign Proceedings in Civil or Commercial Matters; Governance Framework on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the ASEAN Judiciaries; and CACJ 10th Anniversary Commemoration ‘Commemorative Stamp Collection’.
The event was attended by representatives of ASEAN member countries including Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Malaysia and CACJ Chair Tun Tengku Maimun binti Tuan Mat, Vice-President of the Supreme Court of Cambodia Justice You Ottara, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Indonesia Muhammad Syarifuddin, Vice President of the People’s Supreme Court of Laos Khoun Phasouk, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Myanmar Thar Htay, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines Alexander G Gusmundo, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Singapore Sundaresh Menon, President of the Supreme Court of Thailand Anocha Chevitsophon, and Standing Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court of Vietnam Nguyen Tri Tue.
The CACJ Retreat is a platform for ASEAN chief justices to deepen cooperation and upholding the rule of law in the region.
The gathering was conceived during the 10th CACJ in November 2022, where an agreement was reached to convene a retreat once every decade. – Fadley Faisal
