Malaysia's CJ retires; successor not named

Second most senior judge will be acting Chief Justice

The Straits Times, November 1, 2007
By Carolyn Hong, Malaysia Bureau Chief



TUN AHMAD FAIRUZ SHEIKH ABDUL HALIM: His request to stay on as Chief Justice for another six months has not been granted.











DATUK ABDUL HAMID MOHAMAD: Malaysia's second most senior judge, he could be named acting Chief Justice until the top post has been filled.










TAN SRI ZAKI AZMI: A candidate for the top judicial post, his ties to Umno have come under attack by opposition leader Lim Kit Siang.










IN KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S beleaguered Chief Justice, Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, reaches retirement age today, with no word from the government on extension of his term.

Several months ago, he was said to have asked to be allowed to stay on for six more months.

He turns 66 today - the age of mandatory retirement for judges.

It is believed that his request for extension has not received the approval of the King, which is required under the Malaysian Constitution.

Under Malaysian law, the second most senior judge - Court of Appeal president Abdul Hamid Mohamad - will automatically assume the post of acting Chief Justice.

Datuk Abdul Hamid, 65, is said to be on the list of candidates slated to take over the top judicial post.

Sources say that the issue of the new Chief Justice is on the agenda of today's meeting of the country's nine hereditary rulers with Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

The Constitution requires the rulers' consent for judicial appointments.

The sultans, who normally do not rock the boat, collectively showed their strength earlier this year when they refused to endorse a government choice for the third most senior judicial post, the Chief Judge of Malaya.

This latest turn of events comes in the wake of a scandalous video clip released recently of a lawyer boasting on the phone that he could use his political connections to get judges promoted.

Tun Ahmad Fairuz has denied, through the de facto Law Minister Nazri Aziz, that he was on the other end of the line, but speculation continues to rage.

This saga has put intense pressure on the government to reform the system of making appointments to the Bench.

The Malaysian Bar Council, which represents 12,000 lawyers, also piled on the pressure by calling for a more transparent system of judicial appointments.

Just last Friday, a human rights lawyer handed the King a 5,000-signature petition calling for reforms.

Even Perak Sultan Azlan Shah joined the call for change - to widespread support from the legal fraternity - when he opened the Malaysian Law Conference on Monday.

The government's prolonged delay in making a decision on the succession to the top judicial post underlines the dilemma that it is in.

Its next move is being closely watched as a signal of its political will to institute reforms.

It thus came as a further blow when Tan Sri Zaki Azmi, said to be a candidate for the Chief Justice's post, came under attack in parliament on Tuesday for being Umno's former top legal adviser.

Parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang was quoted in the New Straits Times yesterday as saying that Tan Sri Zaki's appointment would be a prelude to him becoming 'Umno's Chief Justice'.

A former senior lawyer, Tan Sri Zaki, 62, was appointed a judge of Malaysia's apex court in September, the first person to be elevated directly to the highest court without having served as a judge in the lower courts.

The de facto Law Minister Nazri Aziz came to Tan Sri Zaki's defence in parliament, saying that the judge was only an ordinary Umno member who sat on the disciplinary committee.