Former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram said newly appointed Chief Justice Richard Malanjum deserved his appointment as the top judicial officer of the country.

Sri Ram, in a statement, gave three reasons why Justice Malanjum deserved the appointment.

First, he said Justice Malanjum is the most senior of all Federal Court judges.

"Second, he is a lawman, like Ariffin Zakaria the former CJ. Richard's interest in the law is paramount. He is an avid reader."

"Thirdly, he is a good administrator. I remember when he was first appointed as a judge to the Kuching High Court. There was a huge backlog of cases because of the disinterestedness of his predecessors.

Justice Malanjum, Sri Ram said, rolled up his sleeves went into the safe room where the old files were kept and took them all out and fixed them for disposal. Within a month, he got rid of the
backlog, Sri Ram added.

It was reported last night that Justice Malanjum took his oath as the new Chief Justice before the Yang di Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V.

Appointment verifies ‘oneness of Malaysia’

Sri Ram said Malanjum's appointment verifies the oneness of Malaysia.

"It signifies that there is only one Malaysia. There is no East Malaysia and West Malaysia."

"The credit for his appointment should go entirely to (prime minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad. May he lead us for many more years to come," said the former top judge.

Civil rights lawyer Syahredzan Johan also commended Malanjum's appointment as the Chief Justice in a Facebook post.

He said those who criticised Malanjum's appointment are not lawyers and do not understand how the judiciary system works.

"Malanjum was the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak, an office bearer of the judiciary and the most senior among the current judges," Syahredzan said.

Syahredzan said those who opposed Malanjum's appointment, were against him due to the latter's decisions in previous cases such as that of Lina Joy, a Malay woman who converted to Christianity and wanted to legally renounce Islam.

Her case went to the Federal Court in 2007 where it ruled that only syariah courts could decide her case. Malanjum had written the dissenting judgment in that case.

“Supposedly with Malanjum as chief justice, in such cases, he will not ‘favour Islam’ (whatever that means). They forget or are pretending to forget that decisions at the Federal Court are not made by one judge alone," he said. “In those cases, Justice Malanjum was the dissenting judge and not of the majority.”

Syahredzan pointed out that Malanjum is the first chief justice from Borneo, a bumiputera and a Universiti Teknologi Mara graduate.

"Why is this still not enough for them? They come up with all sorts of excuses which are actually indefensible,” said the lawyer, who is also political secretary to DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang.

Former Court of Appeal judge Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus said: “I am very happy over Justice Richard Malanjum's appointment as CJ. Particularly because of the fact that this is the first time a judge from East Malaysia has appointed as CJ”.

“Justice Malanjum has delivered significant landmark judgments. I am optimistic that he will restore public confidence to the judiciary.”