Lawyer Rulers Wise Appointments Prevented Another Judicial Crisis

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A senior lawyer has commended the Conference of Rulers’ “wise” decision to appoint Court of Appeal judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh as the new chief justice, saying it has saved the country from another judicial crisis.
According to Haniff Khatri Abdullah, the move to elevate Wan Ahmad Farid (above) thwarted a purported plan by the executive to promote another judge, who has far less experience and was recently implicated in an alleged judicial interference scandal.
“I would like to say that I’m very happy that the rulers have resolved the discomfort and prevented a crisis by these proper and wise appointments,” he told Malaysiakini.
Last night, the Office of the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court announced Wan Ahmad Farid’s appointment as the new chief justice, taking over from Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who retired early this month.
The statement also confirmed two other senior judicial appointments: Federal Court judge Abu Bakar Jais as the new president of the Court of Appeal, and Court of Appeal judge Azizah Nawawi as the chief judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak.
The announcement puts an end to a month-long fiasco that resulted from the delay in nominating Tengku Maimun’s successor. As a result, allegations that Putrajaya wanted to elevate a certain Federal Court judge of their choice emerged.
Concerns about the judge intensified after purported Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) meeting minutes from May were leaked on Saturday.
The document appeared to corroborate allegations of judicial interference that surfaced last month after a police report lodged on the judge’s behalf was also leaked.
‘Don’t question his credibility’
Speaking about Wan Ahmad Farid, Haniff believed the public should not question the judge’s credibility based on his past involvement in politics.
The criminal lawyer expressed his confidence in Wan Ahmad Farid’s impartiality and fairness based on the latter’s conduct during his career in the judiciary.
Lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdullah“I have appeared before him many times since 2015. I did about five or six cases before him, trials and all that.
ADS“Honestly, I’m saying this. I have never found any of his conduct… not only his decisions… the way he conducts the hearing… inclined towards political views,” Haniff said.
For the record, Wan Ahmad Farid was an active member of BN prior to joining the judiciary, and had been appointed to various positions, including as deputy home minister during the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Abdul Razak administrations.
According to Haniff, the judge had proven his impartiality when he recused himself from presiding over several cases where a conflict of interest could be perceived.
They included a case that involved Najib and 1MDB.
“So, if in the future there are any of the appeals of Najib or Rosmah (Mansor) or 1MDB or SRC comes up, depending on the facts of the case, depending on the matter which is before him, if he needs to recuse himself, I believe and trust he’ll be the first one to do so, even before the lawyers tell him.”
Haniff also poured cold water on questions raised over Wan Ahmad Farid and Azizah being elevated from the Court of Appeal - which means they bypassed other senior judges in the Federal Court.
“It’s for the king (to decide). So long as none of them is questionable in terms of integrity, then it’s a non-issue to me,” he said.
He claimed that most of the senior judges today had begun their practice around the same time, meaning they have about the same number of years of experience.
Good judges
Activist lawyer New Sin Yew shared a similar sentiment on the top appointments, saying they are “good judges”.
However, he stressed that the appointments themselves did not resolve an ongoing problem that allows the executive to interfere in judicial appointments.
“I want to say that filling up the vacancies doesn’t resolve the existing fault lines that allowed for interference with the judiciary.
“So, there’s no basis for what the prime minister has said about being committed to reform and judicial independence,” he said.
New was referring to a clause in the Federal Constitution, which states that judges are appointed by the king upon the advice of the prime minister.
Activist lawyer New Sin YewPrime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had yesterday told the media that the appointments will prove that the government is “truly committed to reform, including upholding the principle of judicial independence.”
“There is still no explanation on why the JAC’s recommendations were not carried out by the government, which led to the vacancies.
“The PM and his power to appoint judges are the root cause of this mess. Until and unless these are addressed, then only the Madani government can say that they are committed to reform and judicial independence,” he added. - Mkini

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