The newly-reappointed Chief Justice Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif has conceded that his reappointment is “unprecedented” but said that it is still constitutional.

However, he left the final decision on the constitutionality of his position to the court.

This is indeed doubly unprecedented – leaving the country with a Chief Justice who is believed by the Malaysian Bar through a emergency EGM and many jurists, including many serving and former top judges in the land, unconstitutionally occupying the top judicial post in the land for the next three years.

Surely, there can be no greater blow to the independence, impartiality and professionalism of the judiciary than for the country to have a judiciary which is headed by a person for next three years enmeshed in a controversy about the constitutionality of his extension of office?

A top judicial officer who cherishes unquestioned respect for the rule of law and unblemished standing of the judiciary not only in the eyes of the bench and bar but the Malaysian populace would want to spare the judiciary from the agony of a controversy lasting for the next three years over the constitutionality of the extension of the Chief Justice of the land.

The revelation by former Chief Justice Tun Zaki Tun Azmi in an article in New Straits Times yesterday that Raus’ extension as Chief Justice was made without recommendation of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) has made Raus’ reappointment as Chief Justice not only unconstitutional and unprecedented, but even most improper. Read the rest of this entry »