Malaysia has for the first time appointed a woman as Chief Judge of Malaya, one of the country's four top judicial posts, reported Bernama news agency.

Bernama said Siti Norma Yaakob, 65, was sworn in at the administrative capital Putrajaya on Tuesday.

The post had been vacant for three months after Haidar Mohamed Noor retired last November.

Siti Norma was also the only woman High Court judge in the 1990s and went on to create history as the first woman to be appointed as a Court of Appeal judge in 1994 and subsequently as a Federal Court judge in 2001.

Siti Norma said she had mixed feelings over her new appointment.

"On one hand, it's a great responsibility, so there will be great expectations from me," she said, adding that with Allah's guidance she would be able to carry out her duties.