Let newly appointed judges work without questioning legitimacy, says PKR man
PETALING JAYA : PKR's Taufiq Johari today urged all quarters to let the newly appointed judges carry out their duties without questioning their legitimacy.
The Sungai Petani MP took aim at Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's detractors for playing up the end of Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat's term as chief justice as the 'mother of all judicial scandals'.
'I hope (the judicial appointments) bring to an end the cycle of politically motivated speculation and innuendo that cast unwarranted aspersions on the integrity of the judicial appointment process.
'Some even accused the prime minister of trying to place former attorney-general and current Federal Court judge Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh as the new chief justice.
'Now that that claim has been revealed to be false, the detractors will undoubtedly try a different tactic,' he said in a statement.
Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh was appointed as the new chief justice, taking over the post from Tengku Maimun, who retired earlier this month.
The office of the chief registrar said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had also consented to Abu Bakar Jais's appointment as president of the Court of Appeal, and Azizah Nawawi's appointment as chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak.
They will be sworn in and presented with their letters of appointment at Istana Negara on July 28.
Taufiq took particular aim at 'former PKR leaders like Latheefa Koya' for their role in magnifying the controversy, accusing them of forgetting the suspension and removal of Supreme Court lord president Salleh Abas from his seat in 1988.
'Indeed, then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad suspended five Supreme Court judges during that real 'mother of all constitutional crises',' he said.
Taufiq also pointed to the VK Lingam judicial crisis in 2007 and the 2021 suspension of Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer after he made allegations of judicial interference.
'The best thing we can do now is let the newly appointed judges carry out their duties to the best of their abilities without questioning the legitimacy of their appointments.
'Let them be judged by the wisdom of their judgments,' he said.
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