– by Nigel Edgar
KUCHING, Oct 9: Judges in the country would be able to serve till the age of 70 once the proposal to amend Article 125 of the Federal Constitution is approved in Parliament.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law) Datuk Liew Vui Keong said most developed countries in the world had increased their judges’ retirement age to at least 70 but Malaysian judges currently have to retire after the age of 66.
“I strongly believe that the reform in judiciary institutions shall include the change of retirement age of the judges as well. In other countries, such as Australia and United Kingdom, the judges retire at the age of 70 and in fact there is a proposal in Australia that judges shall retire at the age of 80 provided they pass a medical inspection.
“But in our country we have a Prime Minister (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) who is ‘only’ 93 years old and he passed all medical conditions, and then of course the most important thing is that he won the election on May 9, 2018 with an unprecedented victory where we are seen by the world as the country with the oldest Prime Minister.
“Also in India recently, the Supreme Court Judge of India Justice Kurian Joseph also urged the Indian government to raise the retirement age of judges to 70. As we can see, this is a global issue which shall be taken into great consideration by the government,” he said during a dinner reception with Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) MPs and members of the Advocates Association of Sarawak (AAS) on Monday.
He said in Singapore the judges’ retirement age was still at 66 but the President of Singapore could extend that to any age that is deemed fit.
“Hence, I am pleased to announce that the government will propose to increase the retirement age of the judges in Malaysia to 70-years-old. This proposal requires amendment to Article 125 of the Federal Constitution as well as amendment to the Constitution Article 1(2), and it will be tabled in the next session of Parliament together with the amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution,” said Liew. — DayakDaily
