PUTRAJAYA (Aug 13): In what is considered one of the largest intakes in recent years, 23 judicial commissioners (JCs) were sworn in on Wednesday by Chief Justice of Malaysia Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh.

A JC is a judge appointed for a fixed term, often seen as a trial period before possibly becoming a permanent High Court judge.

Of the 23 newly appointed JCs, eight hail from the judicial and legal service, while the rest are from private law firms.

The new appointees will take up about 30 vacant High Court positions and help reduce the backlog of cases as well as handling trials.

The 23 JCs also took their oaths before President of the Court of Appeal Datuk Abu Bakar Jais, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Azizah Nawawi and Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Hasnah Hashim at the elevation ceremony.

The JCs are:

Among those appointed are Datuk Donald Joseph Franklin, who was head of the civil division in the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) and part of the prosecution team which secured a conviction against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the SRC International criminal trial; Datuk Abdul Fareed Gafoor, who served as Bar president between 2019 and 2020; and Kuldeep Kumar Singh , who was part of the legal team that represented Azilah Hadri, one of two former Special Action Unit officers convicted of Altantuya Shaariibuu’s murder in 2006.

The appointments come after Wan Ahmad Farid, in his policy speech last Wednesday, said he was working with the government on increasing the number of courtrooms and appointing additional JCs.

“In order to drastically reduce the backlog of cases drastically, the judiciary will assign circuit judges and JCs in various stations to hear ageing cases and dispose of them within a specified period. We hope that this would ease the burden of existing judges and judicial commissioners, who can then concentrate on existing cases,” Wan Ahmad Farid had said.