'Lazy judges' and 'leapfrogging' have become common terms when describing the appointment and elevation of judges in the country.

The current allegations that Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim had promoted incompetent judges who have bypassed more senior judges adds fuel to the debate that the judiciary is in a spiral of decline.

Fairuz had argued that promotions and appointments were based on meritocracy but not necessarily work-related.

Other factors taken into consideration include people whom judges socialised with, their personal life, how they presented themselves in public and their judicial temperament.

With this, malaysiakini decided to delve into the Current Law Journal - the authoritative journal which publishes court judgments - to look at the seniority and the number of written judgments made by current and previous judges appointed by the CJ.

Leapfrogged into Federal Court

In terms of seniority, Court of Appeal Judge Gopal Sri Ram ( right ) is the most senior in the two appellate courts as he began his duties in the country's second highest court in August 1994, exactly 13 years ago.

Gopal is known for his well-written but controversial judgments including the Metramac judgment in which he stated that high profile businessman Halim Saad had siphoned RM32.5 million from the toll operator, and that he had enjoyed former finance minister Daim Zainuddin's patronage.

In May 2006, he ordered former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's adopted brother Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja to be re-tried for a sodomy offence.

In 1994, then a senior lawyer, Gopal was appointed directly into the appellate court - bypassing the High Court - by then chief justice Eusoff Chin.

Since then, the country had seen 14 junior judges promoted over Gopal to the Federal Court - the nation's highest court.

This included Justice Augustine Paul ( left ), who had sentenced Anwar to nine years' jail for corrupt practices.

Another was Pajan Singh Gill (who has since retired), who had upheld Anwar's sodomy conviction , which was later overturned by the Federal Court.

These promotions were labelled as 'golden handshakes' by former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Param Cumaraswamy in a letter which he wrote to Ahmad Fairuz.

"Their promotions supercede other more senior judges in the (courts) [...] they will be perceived as being rewards for having 'delivered' in the Anwar trials and appeals," he wrote in 2003.

While most judges averaged three to seven years for promotion into the Federal Court, two judges took one year each before being elevated.

Justice Gill ( left ) entered the Court of Appeal in August 2002 and was elevated to the highest court exactly a year later.

Also promoted to the apex court after a year in the Court of Appeal was Azmel Haji Maamor who presided notably in the appeal of business tycoon Eric Chia.

All 10 judges currently sitting in the apex court were promoted before Gopal during Ahmad Fairuz's reign as CJ.

Written judgments don't matter

Malaysiakini also looked into the number of written judgments listed in the Current Law Journal (CLJ) by existing and recently retired judges to see if it is a factor as far as promotions are concerned in light of recent allegations that Federal Court judge Hashim Yusoff failed to write judgments.

Hashim has been accused for failing to write judgments in 35 cases, including four in which the convicted are languishing in jail despite being sentenced to death seven years ago.

Malaysiakini's research showed that Hashim's name appeared only 13 judgments in the High Court. However, CLJ listed only seven High Court judgments under Ahmad Fairuz name between 1990 to 1999.

Despite deciding on a small number of High Court cases, Ahmad Fairuz clocked in the most Court of Appeal cases at 157, followed by Alauddin Mohd Sheriff with 103 (these are combined figures on the number of cases sat before and after being promoted to the Federal Court). [See chart]

Alauddin ( left ) is today tapped as the Chief Judge of Malaya - the judiciary's No 3 post.

Meanwhile, judges with the least number of Court of Appeal cases listed Paul with 34 cases and Azmel Maamor with 43 cases.

The research also revealed a major discrepancy in the number of cases decided in the High Court by the current Court of Appeal judges before promotion. [See chart]

CLJ listed Justice Tengku Baharudin Shah Tengku Mahmud as the judge with the least number of cases with seven written judgments between 1998 to 2003.

He is followed by Hasan Lah (14 judgments) and Ahmad Haji Maarop (26 judgments). Both sat in the High Court for five to six years.

Meanwhile Low Hop Bing presided in a whopping 543 High Court cases before being promoted in July last year. He's followed by Abdul Malik Ishak with 448 cases listed.

From the quantitative analysis, it shows that there is no set formula when promoting judges whereby the number of judgments and seniority are not persuasive criteria.

Seniority should be first criteria

Malaysian Bar president S Ambiga stressed that seniority must be the first criteria that the CJ must consider when promoting judges.

"Seniority means experience and experience means ability. We see seniority as a starting point and of course other factors can be taken into account.

"But there must be certain guidelines to such promotions like competence, legal ability, intellectual honesty, impartiality, judicial temperament, diligence in judgment writing and independence," she said.

She opined that problems surrounding appointment and promotions of judges can be solved by setting up a judicial commission.

Tomorrow: How to restore faith in the judiciary