COMMENT | For the legal-minded, forgive me if I have used the word “recuse” improperly in asking whether chief justice designate Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh should recuse himself from his position.

The common legal use refers to a situation where a judge steps aside from hearing a case because he is not in a position to judge it fairly due to significant conflicts of interest and other factors which may result in a less than fair decision.

Should Wan Ahmad Farid recuse himself from a position if it is compromised by his past and he cannot do his job fairly and impartially, just as he did when he previously recused himself from a prominent case where Umno’s Najib Abdul Razak was involved?

It would illuminate the answers if we looked at Wan Ahmad Farid’s record and how he came to be...