The judiciary has directed that all courts start at 8.30 am from July 1 onwards and this has been coolly accepted by the Malaysian Bar even-though it is the biggest stakeholder in the system of administration of justice in the country.

This may look and sound like a fresh new start for the judiciary which is eager to cleanse itself from the years of negativity that it had to endure due to bad press and controversial matters that were well within their powers to correct and amend but they chose to turn a deaf earto.

But now, all of a sudden, this new announcement that all must start at 8.30am and if they don't then it will be to their detriment.

Most members of the judiciary are already grandparents or at least grand-uncles and aunts. They may have completed their career cycle but have they stopped to ask themselves how many young and middle-aged lawyers out there who are trying hard to make ends meet will find it difficult to come to the courts by 8.30am?

Have these judges any idea how hard it is to get a sleeping child ready to be sent to the babysitters or pre-school by 6.30am so that their lawyer mum or dad can make it before these judges by 8.30am? Some of these parents hardly see their children and some can only dream of spending time with them if they leave the profession.

So if it has come to this, what is the use of having kids in the first place? Imagine trying to sort out a divorce settlement with these kinds of issues. These days, most of those who are trying hard to keep up have to move to the outer skirts of KL to be able to purchase affordable homes. Many lawyers live in moderate housing estates which are far from the city capital.

The person has to leave his home at about 4.45 -5.00am to reach the courts comfortably by passing the horrible jams that one may have to endure if one is just a few minutes late. What more if the lawyer has an outstation case in a court in Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca or north Johor. What does he do to save cost? Camp out at the courts the night before?

The judiciary has failed to realise the vast impact of the decision that they have made. They have failed to be sensitive to the needs of the women who are the hearts of their homes. If the ‘heart’ leaves so early, just imagine what a life the rest of the members of that home will have. Whilst the judges have drivers to ferry them around, these poor lawyers and young deputy public prosecutors have only themselves to rely on. They will have to endure extreme fatigue due to the lack of sleep as they try to keep up to this ridiculous timing set by the courts.

Whilst one does not argue with the fact that the thought of streamlining and making the dispensation of justice more expeditious is worth supporting, but making ridiculous and down right unpopular policies is something that one has got to remind the policy-makers of.

Allowing the courts’ official time to remain at 9am and giving reasonable discretion to the presiding judge to start proceedings - like what it has been all throughout these years - is something which we must not part with.

Instead of turning the clock back or forth by half-an-hour just like what one of our former prime minister did when he first took power is not going to solve the actual problem which everyone knows is public confidence.

When the whole world knows that one can get justice in Malaysian courts no matter who one is, that would be the day we would have made a step forward. We might as well strive for that instead of showing the world that we start early but end up with no justice at all. ‘Early justice’ may not be seen to be justice at all.