King happy at having more women judges
KUALA LUMPUR: Federal Court judge Datuk Rohana Yusof was appointed as the new president of the Court of Appeals after receiving the official appointment letter from Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.
She received her letter of appointment at Istana Negara yesterday together with eight other judges, five of whom were women.
Three other Appeals Court judges namely Datuk Zaleha Yusof, Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Hasnah Mohammed Hashim were appointed as Federal Court judges while High Court judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail was appointed as Appeals Court judge.
Appointed as Appeals Court judge were Datuk Abu Bakar Jais and S. Nantha Balan, who were both High Court judges.
Datuk Seri Tun Abd Majid Tun Hamzah and Datuk Azmi Abdullah, who were both Judicial Commissioners, were appointed as High Court judges.
Among those who witnessed the ceremony were Chief Justice Tan Sri Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ismail Bakar.
Chief Comptroller of Istana Negara, Datuk Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin, said in a statement that Sultan Abdullah also expressed his happiness at the appointment of many women judges, which reflected the efforts and sensitiveness of the national administration in featuring the involvement of women in the judiciary.
In her speech, Chief Justice Tan Sri Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister for walking the talk in supporting judicial freedom.
Maimun said Dr Mahathir Mohamad had given the nod for the promotion of judges as proposed by the Judicial Appointment Commission (JAC).
“In accepting JAC’s proposal, the Prime Minister has supported and respected the freedom of judiciary as stipulated under Section 2 of the JAC Act 2009,” she said during the elevation of nine judges at the Palace of Justice.
In accordance with the Act, the JAC proposed the names of suitably qualified persons to be appointed as judges in higher courts for the Prime Minister’s consideration.