By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, July 24: Court of Appeal (COA) judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi has been appointed the new Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak, making her the highest-ranking judicial officer from East Malaysia.
In a major reshuffling of the nation’s judiciary, Federal Court judge Datuk Abu Bakar Jais has been named president of the Court of Appeal, while COA judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh has been appointed as the new Chief Justice (CJ), succeeding Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat who retired on July 1.
The appointments, announced in a statement by the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court of Malaysia on July 18, came amid growing public scrutiny over delays in filling key judicial vacancies.
The swearing-in ceremony and oath of allegiance before the King are scheduled for July 28 at Istana Negara.
According to The Edge Malaysia, Azizah, 63, a Sarawakian and the most senior judge in the COA, began her judicial career as a Judicial Commissioner (JC) in 2012 before rising to the High Court bench in 2014 and later joining the COA in 2019.
Before joining the judiciary, she led the Civil Division at the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC). In her most recent high-profile case, she was the sole dissenting judge on a panel that dismissed Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s bid for house arrest, ruling the evidence presented was hearsay and insufficient to support the claim.
Meanwhile, Wan Ahmad Farid, 62, formerly a deputy home minister and senator under the Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration, entered the judiciary as a JC in December 2015, later becoming a High Court judge in 2019 and COA judge in November 2023. He is currently the 26th most senior appellate court judge.
Despite his political past, Wan Ahmad Farid has made efforts to uphold judicial impartiality. He recused himself from several high-profile cases involving Umno and Najib, citing concerns over public perception of judicial independence.
Notably, in 2022, he withdrew from hearing Najib’s application to allow a UK King’s Counsel in his final SRC International appeal. Last year, he also ordered police to speed up investigations into Teoh Beng Hock’s death, finding that previous efforts lacked urgency.
His appointment follows a period of interim leadership, with Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Hasnah Mohamed Hashim and Federal Court judge Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof temporarily assuming CJ and COA president duties after the retirement of Tengku Maimun and Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim earlier this month.
Newly appointed COA president Abu Bakar Jais, 63, began his judicial career in 2013 and joined the Federal Court in June 2023.
An alumnus of Universiti Malaya and the University of London, he has presided over several landmark cases. In 2017, he dismissed Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s lawsuit against Najib over the 1MDB scandal, ruling that the prime minister could not be sued for abuse of power. Last year, he ruled in favour of the government in a constitutional case involving a woman’s religious status, affirming the jurisdiction of the Shariah Court under the Federal Constitution.
The trio’s appointments are seen as pivotal in restoring leadership and direction at the nation’s highest courts after a transitional phase that sparked concerns over transparency and succession planning in the judiciary. — DayakDaily
