By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Jan 17: Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim is the first Sarawakian to be appointed as the president of the Court of Appeal – the second highest post in the Malaysian judiciary after the Chief Justice of Malaysia.
The 63-year-old led 20 others in an oath taking ceremony broadcast live on The Malaysian Judiciary’s YouTube channel today.
Earlier, Abang Iskandar was reported to have received a letter of appointment from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah in a ceremony held at Istana Negara.
Abang Iskandar would be replacing the outgoing Court of Appeal president Datuk Yaacob Md Sam effective today.
Abang Iskandar was born on July 3, 1959 and hails from Sibu, Sarawak.
He started his career in judicial and legal services in 1983 and has held various positions ever since. The last post he held was the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak since his appointment on Feb 25, 2020.
The ceremony also saw the new Chief Judge of Malaya Dato Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah and new Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Dato Abdul Rahman Sebli taking their oaths of office.
Abdul Rahman who is also a Sarawakian was born on Jan 25, 1959.
At the same time, Court of Appeal judge Nordin Hassan was elevated to Federal Court judge while High Court judges Dato Azman Abdullah, Datuk Azimah Omar, Dato Collin Lawrence Sequerah, Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, Datuk Wong Kian Kheong and Dato Lim Chong Fong were elevated to the Court of Appeal.
Others included the new High Court judges Dato Norsharidah Awang, Tee Geok Hock, Datuk Zaleha Rose Pandin, Alice Loke Yee Ching, Dato Azhar Abdul Hamid, Dr Arik Sanusi Yeop Johari, Bhupindar Singh Gurcharan Singh Preet, Mahazan Mat Taib, Ahmad Murad Abdul Aziz, Liza Chan Sow Keng and Wan Muhammad Amin Wan Yahya.
Also present at the ceremony was Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat. — DayakDaily
