CJ’s extension legally and constitutionally dubious – Parti Harapan

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah is dismayed that Tan Sri Richard Malanjum was denied the appointment as Chief Justice of Malaysia by the government.

The present Chief Justice, Tan Sri Raus Sharif, is supposed to retire on August 3 after attaining the compulsory retirement age of 66 but the Prime Minister upon getting a proposal from a former chief justice has advised the Yang Di Pertuan Agung to approve the extension of the tenure of Raus for another three years.

The King upon consulting the Conference of Rulers which met on May 24 and 25, has approved the extension which has sparked controversy and the people have the right to know whether both such extension and proposal by the former chief justice are constitutional or not.

Deputy president of Harapan Rakyat, Datuk Maijol Mahap, said this after attending the party's Supreme Council monthly meeting recently.

“The extension of Tan Sri Raus' tenure is legally and constitutionally dubious and the people of Sabah view it as a serious matter because it has denied a qualified Sabahan by the name of Tan Sri Richard Malanjum to be appointed as the Chief Justice of Malaysia.

“This is the first time after more than 54 years of the formation of Malaysia that a Sabahan has the opportunity to be appointed as the Chief Justice, but alas they have denied him. He should be appointed as the Chief Justice if the government is really serious about its 1Malaysia policy.

“He has given remarkable service to the judiciary and the nation since he was elevated as a Judicial Commissioner in 1992 and eventually as the Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak and Federal Court Judge in 2006. The federal government must be fair to him as a Sabahan on the appointment of the Chief Justice of Malaysia,” Maijol said.

According to Maijol, the nations of Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore and Malaya came together in 1963 to form Malaysia as equal partners and as such the people of Sabah should be given equal opportunity to hold top posts in the Malaysian government service.

But apart from Tan Sri Gani Patail as the former Attorney General and Datuk Sabin Samitah as the present CEO/Director General of the Inland Revenue, who else from Sabah has been appointed? he questioned.

He added that Richard is the most senior Federal Court judge and more senior than Raus who was only appointed in 2011.

The denial by the government to Richard has created an impression that he as a Sabahan is not fit and suitable to hold the post of Chief Justice, and that Sabahans or Sarawakians no matter how good and how senior they are, are only fit to play second fiddle, he claimed.

“Be that as it may, we are not totally surprised because the mindset of Kuala Lumpur has always been like that. Just look at how they dragged their feet on the Borneonisation policy in Sabah.

“The 20 points and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 spell out that local Sabahans should hold the top federal posts in Sabah but history has shown that they disliked it and have never respected it.

“Our experience in Sabah tells us that whenever we raise the issue, the federal government will tone it down and promise to fulfill it but they never really do it. Mind you, that happens in our own courtyard in Sabah, what more in the Peninsula,” he said.

Maijol expressed hope that members of parliament from Sabah and Sarawak would vehemently raise this matter when the Parliament session commences on July 24.

He was of the opinion that the legal fraternity should also get to the bottom of it and challenge Raus' extension as well as that of Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as the President of the Court of Appeal for another two years from September 27 for being unconstitutional.

“Can a Federal Court judge hold on to his office after he attains the mandatory retirement age of 66 plus an additional six months extension? The govenment is in the affirmative on this question. I hope the Malaysian Bar Council, the Sabah Law Association and the Advovates' Association of Sarawak will mount a challenge to this for the sake of justice in our country,” he said.