IN many ways it was a relief that the appointment of the new Chief Justice has finally been made together with the appointments of the new President of the Court of Appeal and the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak (CJSS).
However the Nation is gingerly awaiting as to who will fill the post of the Chief Judge of Malaya (CJM), the no 3 of the top 4 in the hierarchy of the apex positions in the Judiciary. The CJM position is critical as it controls administratively all the High Courts of Malaya, where serious trials begin.
It is hoped that the commitment given by the Hon. Prime Minister that Tan Sri Terriruddin’s name is not in the list to be considered holds true as if it was otherwise it would tantamount to a betrayal of the people’s trust and analogous to “kerana nila setitik rosak susu sebelanga”.
The appointments must have had anxious moments during their deliberations and consideration between the Judicial Appontment Committee, The Conference of Rulers and DYMM YDPA and the Prime Minister going by the sheer fact that the announcement of the 3 names came virtually at midnight, reminiscient of the announcements of the sightings of the new moon for Hari Raya.
The new CJ, Datuk Wan Farid, is certainly a good choice among the very few in the two Apex Courts that can be equally considered. He is well qualified and possesses an abundance of common sense and reasonable perception of life, moderate in his views and thinking and when challenged rises to the occasion of providing solutions, very often out of the normal strict confines of ‘legal perimeters’.
Wan Farid certainly proves the point that one need not be a graduate of Ivy League universities or from Oxford/Cambridge to be a good lawyer and a judge of eminence as long as one is guided by total honesty (including and especially intellectual honesty) and an abundant sense of justice and fair play.
The new CJ is known for giving latitudes to counsel appearing before him, patient in his treatment of parties and lawyers. He is certainly not of the description Shakespeare has ably captured in Hamlet :
” Let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story”
Some have raised the issue of the new CJ being a former politician and an Umno one at that. True, Wan Farid was an active member of a political party. He was chosen by Tun Abdullah Badawi (former PM) to be the latter’s political secretary and had the distinction of dealing in difficult legal matters as the Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Tun Abdullah would not have chosen anyone in those positions if he had the slightest doubt of the credibility of the person. In any case, many years have passed by and Wan Farid has not shown any inclination to favour any individual from his former party.
In fact he has persistently avoided hearing matters that have the potential of perceived conflicts, unlike in some other cases where judges have placed themselves in such conflicting situations.
In any case, was not Tan Seri Wan Adnan, the late Federal Court Judge and the former President of the Court of Appeal an UMNO politician before ascending to the bench? He was Terengganu Umno Treasurer and an Exco member of Trengganu.
Coincidentally, Wan Adnan also hailed from Terengganu as is Wan Farid and Wan Farid was earlier in his career in the same firm of Tan Sri Wan Adnan viz Adnan & Wee in Kuala Terengganu.
Who can dispute that in spite of Wan Adnan’s previous political encounter, he remained loyal to law and justice throughout his office as a judge?
Another example is Tan Sri Ariff Yusoff who was a PAS member and an election candidate before he was elevated to the bench until reaching Court of Appeal. If he had been young enough I am not surprised if Ariff would have achieved the CJ’s post. Is there anyone who disputes Ariff’s credibility as a Judge in spite of his political background? He subsequently became the Speaker of Dewan Rakyat .
We pray that the new Chief Justice will carry out the trust reposed in him by the people and the Constitution as history will judge him as it did the various Chief Justices in the past, some won high praise while others achieved the scorn of the people.
In this context it is not out of place for me to cite a portion of Muhammad Hj. Salleh’s work (our National Laureate) in Sajak sajak Sejarah Melayu (derivative of Sejarah Melayu by Tun Seri Lanang):
“……..Tapi Yang Amat Agung,
Perkatakanlah yang benar,
Karena kebenaran itu isi sejarah,
Pembetul raja dan pengingat orang lupa,
Petunjuk yang lurus …….”
Unlike politicians, judges do not have the luxury of making decisions without written justification. Judges’ written judgements are sources of history that become good precedents (for praiseworthiness and examples set) or bad ones achieving the scorn of the people forever.
Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, a senior Advocate and Solicitor. (The view expressed herein is a personal view of the writer)