Abdul Hamid is new CJ, Zaki is judiciary's No 2
PUTRAJAYA: Acting Chief Justice Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamad has been confirmed in the top judicial post.
Federal Court judge Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi will take over from Abdul Hamid as Court of Appeal president
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who made the announcement in a statement yesterday, said both appointments had been consented to by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin upon his advice after consultation with the Conference of Rulers.
Based on the announced Appointment of Abdul Hamid and Zaki
The following was an Interesting Article for us to Ponder upon that i reproduced from another blogger post :-
Will someone try to make sense of this?
The VK Lingam video and his brother’s police reports have shown how deep into that dark black hole the judiciary has fallen.
The government went on a dance about the authenticity of the tape and appointed a 3-man panel to verify the authenticity, instead of heeding the call of civil society to appoint a royal commission of inquiry to look into the depressing state of the judiciary.
The 3-man panel vindicated the civil society call : all 3 panel members also recommended the establishment of a rci and found the video to be authentic.
The government has still not made public the 3 separate reports of the 3 panel members.
The government has announced that it will establish the rci.
The government has not made known the terms of reference of the proposed rci.
The government has not made known the appointees to the proposed rci.
Malaysiakini reports today that the PM has announced that Hamid Mohamed has been confirmed as the new Chief Justice.
After almost 40 years in the judicial service, Hamid is probably the most qualified in the Federal Court to head the judiciary.
Hamid’s stint, though, will probably be very short. He will reach retirement age in April next year and, if extended for 6 months, which has become the norm except, thankfully, in the case of Fairuz, should retire latest by end October or in November next year.
So who takes over when Hamid finally retires?
Who’s next?
The next most senior?
Zaki Azmi, Malaysiakini reports, is going to be the new President of the Court of Appeal, taking Hamid’s place.
If one of the criticisms of Fairuz’s appointment as CJ since the revelations in the VK Lingam is that he had only written in all, 7 judgments as a High Court judge prior to his elevation, Zaki has, to my knowledge, not written any.
Which is understandable given Zaki’s hop, step and jump into the Federal Court in September this year.
Check out the judiciary members directory from the judiciary website HERE.
Let me reproduce below the Federal Court directory which, unless I’m mistaken, ranks the judges according to seniority.
1. The Honourable Dato’ Arifin bin Zakaria DPCM , DPMK, SPSK
2. The Honourable Dato’ Bentara Istana Dato’ Nik Hashim bin Nik Ab. Rahman Dato’ Bentara Istana, SPSK, SIMP, DSMZ, DPMK, DPMT, ASM, KMN
3. The Honourable Dato’ Sri Augustine Paul a/l Sinnappen SSAP, SIMP, DSAP, DIMP, DMSM, KMN, PKT
4. The Honourable Dato’ Abdul Aziz bin Mohamad DPMT, ASM, KMN
5. The Honourable Dato’ Haji Hashim bin Dato’ Haji Yusoff SPSK, DPMK, KMN
6.The Honourable Dato’ Azmel bin Haji Maamor DSNS, PPT
7. The Honourable Dato’ Zulkefli bin Ahmad Makinudin DPMP, SMJ, PIS
8. The Honourable Tan Sri Dato’ Zaki bin Tun Azmi PSM, PJN, DSMT, DSDK, JSM, KMN
The implication of Zaki’s appointment is that notwithstanding his not having a single written judgment to his credit and not even completed 6 months on the Bench ( usually the probationary term in many other industries ), he has been picked over 7 others far more senior than he to be the CJ-in-waiting.
Why?
What gives?
Were we not supposed to be straightening out the judiciary?
If true, the 7 Federal Court judges more senior than Zaki should do the honourable thing and resign.
Something odd about the Malaysiakini report, though.
It states : ‘The King, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, has consented to the appointment of the duo on the advice of the prime minister and after consultation with the Conference of Rulers, said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in a statement. Abdullah said that Abdul Hamid’s appointment took effect on Nov 1 while Zaki’s would be decided later’.
My question. ?
If the Agong has consented to the appointment of both and Hamid’s has been decided to take effect on 1st November, why could not the effective date of Zaki’s appointment, too, be fixed?
Don’t forget that the Agong and the Conference of Rulers declined to appoint two nominees of Fairuz for the office of President of the Court of Appeal and the CJ of Malaya.
Don’t forget that the Agong and the Conference of Rulers declined to give Fairuz his extension.
Don’t forget that Sultan Azlan Shah recently advocated a return to the practise of old of promotions based on seniority.
Yet I’m now told that my Agong and the Conference of Rulers have agreed to bypass 7 other more senior Federal Court judges, have appointed a man barely 3 months on the Bench, but have not fixed the effective date of his appointment?
I don’t buy this.
Something stinks.
Source:
The above post was reproduced from Haris Ibrahim blog post.
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