KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 19): Newly-retired chief justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat revealed that she experienced attempted interference from parties towards the end of her tenure at the helm of the judiciary. 

Speaking at the Allianz Centre for Governance (ACG) Distinguished Speaker Series entitled “The Sanctity of Malaysia’s Federal Constitution: Threats, Solutions and Impact on National Governance”, Tengku Maimun however elaborated that she had never experienced such interference during her tenure as a High Court judge, Court of Appeal judge, or Federal Court judge. 

During the question and answer session at the event, Tengku Maimun was asked whether, during her tenure as chief justice (CJ), she had experienced any interference in the judiciary.

“During my tenure in the High Court — never. During my tenure in the Court of Appeal — never. Unfortunately, towards the end of my tenure as CJ, there was a bit of a semblance of attempted interference,” she said. 

Tengku Maimum continued to assert that the level of interference to the judiciary will depend on the judges.

“There may be interference left, right and centre, but if you ignore them, nothing will happen — the judiciary will remain intact, and judicial independence will be upheld,” Tengku Maimun said. 

When asked by another attendee during the session about what the biggest threat to the judiciary is, Tengku Maimun gave a tongue-in-cheek response. 

“Personally, the biggest threat would be the politicians,” she said to laughter from the crowd. 

Tengku Maimun served as the country’s first female top judge from May 2019 to July 1 this year.