Should Wan Ahmad Farid Recuse Himself As Cj Designate

---

For the legal-minded, forgive me if I have used the word “recuse” improperly in asking whether chief justice (CJ) designate Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh should recuse himself from his position.
The common legal use refers to a situation where a judge steps aside from hearing a case because he is not in a position to judge it fairly due to significant conflicts of interest and other factors which may result in a less than fair decision.
Should Wan Ahmad Farid recuse himself from a position if it is compromised by his past and if he cannot do his job fairly and impartially - just as he did when he previously recused himself from a prominent case where Umno’s Najib Abdul Razak was involved?
It would illuminate the answers if we looked at Wan Ahmad Farid’s record and how he came to be announced as the new CJ.
ADSIn the wee hours of the morning, at approximately the stroke of midnight, heralding the arrival of Friday, July 18, the Office of the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court announced the appointment of Wan Ahmad Farid as CJ pursuant to Clause (1) of Article 122B of the Federal Constitution.
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong gave his royal assent following the advice of the prime minister and consultation with the Conference of Rulers.
The timing of the announcement itself was rather weird. No one remembers the appointment of a CJ at such an unearthly hour. Previous announcements were made during the day.
Next, while many welcomed his appointment, it appeared he had leapfrogged nine Federal Court judges and 24 more senior Court of Appeal judges.
According to the Office of the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court’s official website, Wan Ahmad Farid was 25th in terms of seniority out of 27 in the Court of Appeal, in other words, third from the bottom rung.
Quantum leap over 33 judges
It was a fantastic quantum leap where he soared over a total of 33 judges, including the nine Federal Court judges.
What outstanding qualities did he have to justify such a jump? And why did Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim make him his choice?
At the Federal Court, he leapt over luminaries such as Nallini Pathmanathan, Zabariah Yusof, Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, and Lee Swee Seng in order of seniority, to mention a few.
Court of Appeal judges bypassed include Ravinthran Paramaguru from Sabah, Nazlan Ghazali, Azimah Omar, Collin Lawrence Sequerah and Zaini Mazlan in terms of seniority, amongst others.
Looking at his short profile, Wan Ahmad Farid does not seem to have an outstanding service record, but very conspicuously has been strongly associated with Umno.
Sources: Bernama, KehakimanHe graduated in 1985 from the University of West London, obtaining his Certificate of Legal Practice the following year.
ADSFor 16 years after that, he worked as a lawyer at a firm in Kuala Terengganu before firmly joining politics as political secretary to then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, from 2003 to 2008.
He was appointed to the Senate in December 2005 and appointed deputy home minister in 2008 by Abdullah, fully embracing his position as a full-fledged Umno member who was rapidly ascending the ladder.
Defeated in Kuala Terengganu
He even contested the parliamentary by-election for the Kuala Terengganu seat, possibly the most important in Terengganu, for Umno in January 2009, vacated by the death of Umno’s Razali Ismail. He seemed to have been handpicked to spearhead Umno’s thrust into the state.
But he lost in an upset defeat to the PAS candidate. Interestingly, then prime minister-in-waiting Najib said that the defeat in Kuala Terengganu should not be interpreted as the voters having spurned BN. He denied that the polls were a vote of no confidence in his leadership.
At the 10-minute press conference, the BN/Umno candidate Wan Ahmad Farid, who was sitting next to Najib, did not say a word.
Of note is that PKR was at that time in a coalition with PAS and others, known as Pakatan Rakyat. Then PAS vice-president Ahmad Awang (not to be confused with Abdul Hadi Awang), said: "The win shows that Pakatan is a viable coalition. This win is not just for PAS but for Pakatan."
After his loss, he seemed to lose interest in politics. Wan Ahmad Farid then went back to legal practice from 2010 to 2015. He was appointed a judicial commissioner in 2015 and a High Court judge four years later in 2019.
Unprecedented rise
In November 2024, he was elevated to the Court of Appeal and less than a year later, designated CJ. Effectively, he moved from Court of Appeal judge to CJ in under a year, unprecedented in the annals of Malaysian history.
For this article, we shall look at just one of his major decisions - correctly recusing himself when he was a High Court judge from hearing an application to allow a Queen’s Counsel to represent Najib in the appeal over the RM42 million SRC International corruption case.
Ex-PM Najib Abdul RazakConsidering his strong links to Umno and Najib’s many pending cases and the potential for them to be decided at the Federal Court, as well as a potential move to get Najib house arrest - should Wan Ahmad Farid not recuse himself as CJ too?
Furthermore, there are other cases that may involve top Umno officials who have obtained discharges not amounting to acquittals (DNAA), not least the deputy prime minister, should the prosecution choose to revive these cases.
Anwar, in submitting Wan Ahmad Farid’s name for the top judicial appointment, is remiss and has made many concessions to Umno. The only way this wrong can be righted is for the latter to recuse himself. - Mkini
P GUNASEGARAM says interference takes many different forms.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT

---