I refer to the malaysiakini report Kit Siang: CJ's 'nude' views ill-advised. One can sense that the appointment of judges to the bench is shrouded in secrecy and the public is wondering what criteria or merit do top judges have to possess in order to be chosen.

The chief justice's refusal to have an independent judicial commission for the appointment of judges is not in keeping with the ways of matured nations. Even our former colonial master - from whom we inherited our English legal system - has had to change with times and adopt an independent judicial commissions for the appointment of judges. We, too, should form an ICJ.

This commission must include retired judges and prominent personalities of our society who will only elect impeccable characters to sit on the bench. They should be transparent in doing their work and only the best among the best in the legal fraternity should be considered before the Conference of Malay Rulers endorses their recommendations for judgeships.

Ever since the judicial crisis of 1988, our judiciary has suffered a credibility gap and one would think that our top judges would listen to the opinions of prominent people who have no private agendas when they make proposals to reform the judiciary. We cannot have situations where judges are afraid to go against government interests in legal disputes because they are afraid of not being promoted.

Neither are they supposed to be 'compliant' to the executive when doing their work. An independent judiciary is sacrosanct and judges should not be removed from office or have their promotions withheld if their decisions go against the executive or powerful political figures in this country.

Presently, the appointment and promotion of judges are in the hands of the chief justice and from past records, judges who are independent in their way of thinking and judge only on the merit of the case without fear and favour are sidelined when it comes to promotions.

A good example is Gopal Sri Ram, a prominent judge with the Court of Appeal who has been languishing in his post while some of his younger brethren have overtaken him in promotion and are now at the Federal Court. Judges should be promoted based on merit and sound judgment, and race or religion should not be a factor for one to climb up the ladder in the judiciary.

Mind you, appointing judges to the bench is a great honour for those who are selected for this task. Having different people select candidates for judges is much better than having just one person who might be biased in his or her selection.

Judges should be selected based on their legal acumen and good standing in society not unlike during the time of Suffian Hashim when the selections and promotion of judges were more transparent than today.

To say that the 'old way' of selecting judges still works well after nearly 50 years of independence is wrong. Times are changing and people can sense that ever since the previous Lord President and Supreme Court judges were removed from office by the executive then, the independence of the judiciary has been compromised.

It is a well-known fact that foreign investors prefer to have independent arbitrators to mediate their disputes in this country rather than they going to the courts. The common people also feel that powerful litigants have the last say should they appear in court.

If the chief justice refuses to reform the judiciary for reasons best known to himself, the government of the day should be proactive in reforming the third branch of the constitution in order to attract foreign investment. Investors will flock here if they know that our judges are clean and make their decisions without fear or favour.