I beg to differ with Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz's recent assertion that seniority will no longer be a prerequisite for the promotion of judges to a higher position within the judiciary.

There has been a lot of whisperings among the legal fraternity and the public at large on a number of senior and eminent judges who seem to be sidelined despite vacancies in the appeal and federal courts. Their juniors, instead, overtake them in the promotion exercises.

Our judiciary system was one of the best in the Commonwealth as we were blessed to have had three former prime ministers who had law degrees and who knew the value of an independent judiciary. But with the judicial crisis of 1988, that independence is still doubted among the common people.

Judges during the Dr Mahathir Mohamad administration were promoted due to their allegiance towards the executive and one could clearly see younger judges being promoted earlier over senior ones due to their biased judgments in favour of the government.

The high profile sodomy and corruption trials of our former deputy premier rammed the final nail in the coffin if judicial independence as even the laymen knew of unseen hands playing their part to falsely convict that heir apparent.

All thing being equal, we would expect judges who judge without fear and favour to be promoted and this process should be transparent like in the days of Suffian Hasim and Raja Azlan Shah when the appointment and promotions of judges did not create ill feeling among their brethren and the public at large.