KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — Judges should be judged only on their court decisions and not by their past, Chief Justice Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh said today.

He was weighing in on the November 19 appointment Federal Court judge Tan Sri Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh as a member of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC).

“I believe a judge is to be judged based on his performance in court, based on his grounds of judgment, not any other external factors,” he said in a media interview at the Palace of Justice here in conjunction with his first 100 days in office.

“If you want to judge Tan Sri Terrirudin, let us judge him based on his grounds of judgment, his demeanour in court, the way he handles the lawyers, the way he handles the submissions given by both parties, that’s how we judge him, not by any other matters, not by history,” he added.

Wan Ahmad Farid, who in the past had been a deputy home minister, gave as example that he should not be judged based on his decisions then but that it was fine to judge him based on his past judgments in the High Court in Shah Alam, Kuala Lumpur and Kota Bharu.

“So the best way is for the public to accept things as it is, move on, and to judge a particular judge based on his performance inside the court,” he replied when asked about plans to strengthen public confidence in the judiciary when one of the judges had faced controversies.

In responding to questions raised today regarding Terrirudin’s appointment, Wan Ahmad Farid noted that the JAC Act empowers the prime minister the power to appoint a Federal Court judge to the JAC without consulting anyone.

“So that is the law. Since he appointed somebody who is a Federal Court judge, so there’s no question of the appointment can be challenged or otherwise. Because he has the power and he chooses one of the members of the Federal Court, so there’s no question about it.

“So I cannot question, nobody can question because it’s his power. So we accept as it is.

“So since he’s a member of the JAC appointed by the PM, we will continue the meeting with him as a member. I cannot make any comment positive or negative, or otherwise, because that is his power under the law, the statute allows him to appoint, and he did appoint within his power,” he said.

Wan Ahmad Farid, who chairs the JAC as the CJ, was asked how he intends to uphold its independence and credibility following Terrirudin’s appointment.

He noted that Terrirudin is one of its nine members and had attended its last meeting in that capacity without issues so far.

“And I don’t think there’s any problem with that so far, so we have to move on,” he said.

The JAC is the body that recommends candidates to be appointed and promoted as judges.