The Prime Minis­ter has finally appointed four eminent persons into the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) after the posts were left vacant for more than two months.

Chief Justice Md Raus Sharif, in a statement yesterday, said the four are are former chief justice Arifin Zakaria, former Court of Appeal judge K Anantham, former Sarawak attorney-general Abdul Razak Tready and Universiti Malaya law faculty lecturer Choong Yeow Choy. 

Their term will run from April 17, 2017 to April 16, 2019. 

They are replacing two-term JAC members Haidar Mohd Noor, Sulong Matjeraie, Tee Ah Sing and T Selventhiranathan, whose term ended Feb 9. 

Federal Court judge Azahar Mohamed will be the fifth judge in JAC. 

JAC, which needs a minimum quorum of seven to conduct a meeting, was established under former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's rule in a bid to rebuild public confidence in judiciary.

The Star reported that  the three Bar associations were consulted over a list of 11 names.

It quoted Malaysian Bar president George Varughese saying the four new JAC members were "well qualified and respected in their respective fields."

“However, there should be better representation from a wider cross-section of society and the JAC should include female representatives," he was quoted.

Both Sabah Law Association president Brenndon Soh and Advocates Asso­ciation of Sarawak president Ranbir Singh Sangha also welcomed the appointments.