The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin has appointed Court of Appeal president Zaki Azmi as the Chief Justice of the Federal Court, said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today.

He also said the king has appointed Chief Judge of Malaya Alauddin Mohd Sheriff as Court of Appeal president and Federal Court judge Arifin Zakaria as the Chief Judge of Malaya.

All the appointments are effective Oct 18, he said in a statement according to Bernama .

Abdullah said the king made the appointments acting on his advice and after consulting the Conference of Rulers.

He said the Federal Court was in contact with Istana Negara on setting the date for the presentation of the instruments of appointment and the swearing-in of the judges.

zaki azmi chief justice 161008 On Oct 16, Malaysiakini reported - based on sources - that the Conference of Rulers had decided to stick to convention and name Zaki as the new chief justice to replace Abdul Hamid Mohamad.

News of Zaki's appointment had caused an uproar following his previous links with Umno.

He was 'parachuted' into the Federal Court last September and two months later he was made Court of Appeal president - the second highest post in the judiciary.

The 63-year-old judge will be at the helm for at least three years unless his tenure is extended by the government.

Zaki needs to prove himself

Zaki was Umno’s legal adviser and had served as chairperson of the party’s election committee as well as deputy chairperson of its disciplinary committee.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang said Zaki would have to prove he could act independently.

He said that Zaki was a member of Umno, which leads the ruling coalition, and had been an Umno corporate lawyer who had headed the party's disciplinary board.

"Bearing in mind the swirling doubts about the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary on his appointment as the chief justice, Zaki must now perform what to many is an impossible task of proving them wrong," he told AFP .

Bar Council chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan has said that doubts have been raised over Zaki's political affiliations and business connections.

"These concerns can only be dispelled by him through the conduct of his duties and by a demonstration of independence and impartiality at all times," she said last week.

Ambiga said the lawyers' group would defend the independence and integrity of the judiciary and "is ever vigilant that the doctrine of the separation of powers be upheld."