The Honourable Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Brunei Darussalam, Dato Seri Paduka
Steven Chong attended the 3rd China-ASEAN Justice Forum on Wednesday 20 July 2022. The
virtual forum was hosted by the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (‘the
SPC’). Through the forum, the SPC wished to enhance judicial exchanges, build harmonious
economic, trade and investment ties and form pragmatic and effective judicial cooperation
between China and ASEAN countries. The ASEAN Chief Justices and the Secretary General of
ASEAN were invited to have an in-depth discussion with the Chief Justice and Justices from the
SPC on the theme of ‘Establishing a High-Level Judicial Cooperation Platform to Jointly Build the
21st Century Maritime Silk Road”.
In his opening remarks during the forum’s opening ceremony, Chief Justice Dato Seri Paduka
Steven Chong highlighted the forum as “an important platform for China-ASEAN cooperation” in
providing “an excellent setting for China and ASEAN judiciaries to share their experiences and
enhance judicial networks.” The Chief Justice added that “in offering each other much needed
support through such trying times, it is hoped that through our judiciaries’ joint efforts and
constructive dialogues, we are able to support China-ASEAN trade, investment and economic
recovery.”
The forum discussed three topics, namely the acceleration of the adaption of the new Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) economic and trade rules, the enhancement of
intellectual property rights and cross border online litigation. The Chief Justice said that “bringing
together such themes is fitting when discussing how our judiciaries can work together and help
promote the region’s trade and development post-COVID-19.”
Chief Justice Dato Seri Paduka Steven Chong then gave a speech on the ‘promotion of crossborder online litigation to provide judicial assistance for pandemic prevention, control and
economic recovery’ and spoke on Brunei Darussalam’s experiences in promoting online litigation
and what steps were taken to continue the court’s work to deliver justice and keep up with cases
while reducing the risk of infection amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chief Justice said that the
courts “continue to conduct as many court proceedings as possible remotely in order to facilitate
the efficient and expeditious processing of cases and support the efforts in the economic recovery
post-COVID-19.”
The Chief Justice emphasized the role of technology and the use of online video conferencing
platforms such as Zoom in enabling the Judiciary to “connect court users and stakeholders in order
to make justice more accessible.” He informed that there was a steady rise in the number of cases
conducted online “from 91 cases heard online in August 2021 to 351 cases by December 2021”
and added that “despite Brunei Darussalam entering the early endemic phase of its response to
COVID-19 at the end of 2021, court proceedings have remained online with a total of 1,364 out
of 3,329 hearings from January to May 2022, making up 41% of total hearings conducted
virtually.” It was highlighted that in February 2022, “the High Court had a judge from its
international panel presiding from Australia via Zoom conducting both civil and commercial
proceedings. Counsel and parties attended these proceedings remotely in Brunei Darussalam and
from various locations abroad, such as Canada, India, Malaysia and Singapore.”
Also present at the forum were the Honourable Judicial Commissioner and Chief Registrar of the
Supreme Court, Justice Haji Abdullah Soefri bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka
Haji Abidin, the Honourable Judicial Commissioner, Muhammed Faisal bin Pehin Datu Juragan
Laila Diraja Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Pahlawan Haji Kefli together with judges and judicial officers
from the Judiciary.
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SUPREME COURT OF BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
