“The exercise of such powers (of the courts to affirm constitutional supremacy) not just protects and preserves democracy but guarantees its continued existence. I would therefore urge such parties not to be afraid of them and seek to curtail them, but to uphold them.” - former chief justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat at a legal conference in Malta earlier this year.

COMMENT | With the new chief justice appointed yesterday, it is time to reflect anew on the state of judicial independence in Malaysia and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s role in it.

As the main person who decides who becomes judges in the higher courts, he has, by his decisions, systematically undermined and perhaps destroyed judicial independence for now, potentially causing great harm to the country.

Anwar’s refusal to recommend the extension of the former CJ by six months, delay in appointments, and poor choice of candidates, ignoring seniority and meritocracy amongst others, has betrayed the established tenets of independence of the judiciary, returning it to the dark ages of extreme judicial control by Umno, and in particular, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

This is surprising considering that the judicial system under Mahathir and Najib Abdul Razak, both former prime ministers, was used to systematically hound Anwar and imprison him on trumped-up charges, only receiving pardons after the 2018 election, in which Pakatan Harapan, Anwar’s creation, won.

This was a betrayal of judicial independence, which the Pakatan Harapan government, ironically under Mahathir, the person designated interim PM, sought to restore following the 2018 election when Richard Malanjum and then Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat (May 2019) were appointed chief justice and Tommy Thomas as attorney-general.