KUALA LUMPUR (July 18): In a surprise twist, appellate court judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh has been named the new Chief Justice.

In a statement issued just after midnight on Friday, the office of the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court of Malaysia also named Federal Court judge Datuk Abu Bakar Jais as the President of the Court of Appeal (COA) and COA judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi as the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak.

The swearing-in and signing of the oath of office and oath of allegiance before the King will be held on July 28 at Istana Negara.

The announcement comes after weeks of criticism levelled against the government for its lack of clarity over top judicial positions left vacant. 

Former CJ Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat reached the mandatory retirement age of 66 on July 1. Tengku Maimun, along with former COA President Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, who retired on July 2, were not given the conventional six-month extension usually granted to Federal Court judges.

Since then, Chief Judge of Malaya (CJM) Tan Sri Hasnah Mohamed Hashim had been taking on the responsibilities of the CJ’s post while apex court judge Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof had been taking on the responsibilities of the COA President’s post.

Wan Ahmad Farid, who is a former Umno politician from Terengganu, served as a senator and was the deputy home minister from March 2008 to April 2009 during Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's administration.

It was reported previously that Wan Ahmad Farid, 62, resigned from Umno before he entered the judiciary as a Judicial Commissioner in December 2015.

Wan Ahmad Farid has notably recused himself from hearing Umno-related cases in the past, as he said the public’s perception of the independence of the judiciary should not be put in doubt.

For instance, in May 2017, Wan Ahmad Farid recused himself from presiding over former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's defamation suit against former Petaling Jaya Utara Member of Parliament Tony Pua.

In 2022, he again recused himself from hearing Najib's application to allow a King's Council from the UK to represent him in his final appeal in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.

In November last year Wan Ahmad Farid also ordered the police to complete their investigations into the death of Teoh Beng Hock, who died 16 years ago, within six months. He found that the police investigation was not conducted with all convenient speed.

More recently, Wan Ahmad Farid was part of the three-member panel which unanimously ruled that the government would retain the massive disputed 'Duta enclave' land, on the grounds that Semantan Estate (1952) Sdn Bhd is not eligible to the land title.

Following Wan Ahmad Farid’s stint as a JC, he was confirmed as a High Court judge in August 2019. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal (COA) on Nov 12 last year.

The University of West London alumnus is currently the 26th-senior judge among the appellate court judges.  

Abu Bakar Jais, 63, became a judicial commissioner in July 2013 after decades in private practice as a lawyer. He was confirmed as a High Court judge in March 2016. He was elevated to the COA in December 2019 and then subsequently elevated to the apex court in June 2023.

He is an alumnus of Universiti Malaya and University of London.

In one of his decisions last year, Abu Bakar along with Abang Iskandar had ruled in the majority to dismiss a woman's final challenge to change her Muslim religious status. Former apex court judge Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan dissented.

Abu Bakar said that although he is aware that some held the view that the Shariah Courts are inferior courts, which would enable the Civil Courts to possibly "review its decisions", there were case laws which stated otherwise. He added that the Shariah High Court is a competent court under the Federal Constitution.

In 2017, Abu Bakar dismissed former prime minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad's suit against then-PM Najib over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal. He ruled that a PM cannot be sued for abuse of power in office, as he is not a public official, but rather, merely a member in public office's administration.

Datuk Azizah Nawawi, 63, was appointed as a JC in November 2012, and was confirmed as a High Court judge in September 2014. She was elevated to the COA in August 2019.

Azizah, a Sarawakian, is the senior-most COA judge at the moment, had previously served as the head of the Civil Division in the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC).

Most recently, she was the sole dissenting judge in a three-member panel presiding over Najib's appeal on a royal addendum which allows him to serve the remainder of his prison term under house arrest. She ruled that some evidence produced to back Najib's claim was based on hearsay and there was no merit to adduce any other fresh evidence.

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