Outgoing chief justice Arifin Zakaria said he is willing to consider taking up positions in the public or private sector after his retirement.

When asked, he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today that he has no plans after his retirement, but he would be willing to consider such offers.

“Oh yes, I would consider. I would consider whatever that comes by - private sector; public sector. Anything.

“But of course if it is connected to the law, it is better because of my interest in law,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after the launch of a book featuring a selection of his court judgments, titled ‘Justice Above All: Selected Judgments of Tun Arifin Zakaria with Commentaries’.

In his speech at the book launching event, Perak ruler Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah spoke on the importance of intellectual honesty and independence, and urged judges to write dissenting judgments whenever the occasion called for it.

Commenting on the remarks, Arifin said he agreed with the sultan, and that dissenting judgments are indicative of the independence of the judiciary.

“It is correct what Raja Nazrin said. If you feel strongly, if you feel you don’t agree with the judgment of the majority, you should just write (your dissenting judgment) rather than just go along with the majority.

“In that way, you can contribute to the development of the law. The minority may (turn out to be) right over time,” he said.

He said it common for judges in the Federal Court to write dissenting judgments, and even he himself had done so in his career.

Asked if he had any regrets, Arifin said he had none, but there was still unfinished business. Improving the quality of court judgments was his main focus when he was appointed as chief justice in 2011, and this remained a work in progress.

He said he is still dissatisfied with the quality of judgments.

“We have a long way to go, but I am happy that we have started it and it is gathering momentum as we go along. Without fail, we have a number of courses for judges and legal officers every year,” he said.

As for the proposal to have separate people heading the judicial and the legal divisions of the Judicial and Legal Service, Arifin said the proposal had been approved by the cabinet but has yet to be implemented.

The Judicial and Legal Services is currently headed by the attorney-general. Under the proposal, only the service’s legal division would be headed by the attorney-general, while the judicial division would be headed by the chief registrar.

“This is because there is an appearance of conflict of interest. The prosecutors are all under the attorney-general, and they may appear before a Sessions judge or magistrate who are under the same service where the attorney-general is the head.

“It doesn’t look good, isn’t it?” he said, adding that separating it into two divisions would avoid this.

Currently, public prosecutors and federal counsels fall under the service’s purview, as do magistrates and Sessions judges.

Arifin had mooted separating the two divisions last year.