Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, cannot be more wrong when he cited Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah as a precedent for the fast-track elevation of Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi as the Court of Appeal President, half-a-heart beat away as Chief Justice of Malaysia in ten months’ time in October next year.

Zaki’s triple jump to become Federal Court judge in September without ever being High Court or Court of Appeal judge is completely without precedent in the nation’s judicial history for half-a-century — just like his quadruple jump in three months up the judicial hierarchy to become the Court of Appeal President or his quintuple jump in a matter of a year when he is appointed Chief Justice of Malaysia next October when Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamad steps down from the topmost judicial post.

Nazri had been wrongly advised about the history of judicial appointments for Dzaiddin, who served as High Court Judge for more than 10 years and Federal Court judge for seven years before he was unexpectedly appointed the Chief Justice of Malaysia in December 2000 — as the choice of the Conference of Rulers which had rejected the original nominee presented by the then Prime Minister.

What are the grounds for the supersonic flight up the judicial hierarchy for Zaki – apart from his Umno associations – as he is no legal luminary in the Malaysian legal firmament.

At a time when the country is struggling to come out of the 19-year crisis of confidence in the independence, integrity and competence of the judiciary, Zaki’s most unorthodox triple, quadruple and quintuple leap up the judicial hierarchy raises most disturbing questions whether there is any real understanding let alone political will on the part of the top national leadership on the urgent need to restore the Malaysian judiciary to the world-class level it had enjoyed two decades ago.

Or is Malaysia on the occasion of its 50th Merdeka anniversary taking the first step to have an Umno Chief Justice instead of a Chief Justice for all Malaysians by October next year?

Zaki’s long association as Umno legal adviser and corporate lawyer (including being involved in dubious Umno corporate deals) is a matter of public record and well-known.

Zaki should explain how he proposes to assure Malaysians that he would be Court of Appeal President and later Chief Justice of Malaysia for all 27 million Malaysians and not just for Umno.

Is he still an Umno member and if not, when did he resign from Umno.

What were the corporate appointments, associations and involvements which he relinquished following his appointment as Federal Court judge in September, and why is he shy to make public the full list of the corporate appointments he had relinquished and still to be relinquished which is routine for judges in developed countries where judicial accountability, transparency and integrity are taken seriously.

Will Zaki undertake to recuse himself from all cases with Umno political and corporate interests while serving as Court of Appeal President and when elevated to Chief Justice of Malaysia in 10 months’ time to assure all Malaysians that he would not compromise the principle of judicial independence and integrity?