The Chief Executive, Edmund Ho Hau Wah, stressed today that both efficiency and quality must be observed in the judicial process facing the new challenges created by rapid development. Mr Ho, speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2005/2006 Judicial Year, said that some of Macao's laws had yet to adapt to the rapid development, which would definitely give rise to more intense conflicts. It was predictable that the Judiciary would face many new tasks and a heavier workload. Thus it was up to everyone, including the Judiciary to find a way to deal with the situation feasibly, he said. ''Certainly, we must clearly realise that efficiency and quality are the two faces of the same coin and it is certainly our goal to achieve harmony between the two,'' said Mr Ho. ''We should not ignore quality in the pursuit of efficiency or to sacrifice justice and impartiality of law in exchange for performances that could not stand the test of time''. He said that faced with rapid development, judges should understand the reasonable aspirations of the public and be committed to solve situations of incompatibility between the pre-occupation of the public and the reality prescribed by the law. Mr Ho urged the judges, judicial staff and academics to contribute more to the usage of Chinese in the judiciary, without compromising the rigidity of law, or judicial quality and efficiency. In the past judicial year, the establishment of the Court for Minor Civil Cases and the processing of civil and criminal cases in separate courts demonstrated the Judiciary's efforts to enhance the operation of the courts, he said. Mr Ho said the Macao SAR Basic Law was the source of SAR's judicial power, and he was glad to see that the courts and the Public Prosecutor's Office exercised their power independently and put into practice the ''One Country Two System'' policy. At the same ceremony, the President of the Court of Final Appeal, Mr Sam Hou Fai, said that in the previous judicial year, Macao had made significant progress in the reorganisation of the judicial system as well as the training of judges, prosecutors and judicial assistants and had increased the use of Chinese in the courts. The Prosecutor General, Mr Ho Chio Meng said that like many other countries and regions, we are faced with two challenges: first, the incompatibility between social development and the law and second, limited resources and the growth of demand in the judicial process. He said that to fulfill the public's expectation to the Judiciary efficiently and impartially was the issue that needs to be addressed most urgently. Both Sam Hou Fai and Ho Chio Meng said that it was necessary to enhancing the Judiciary's efficiency and quality.
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