KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 ― Malaysia’s top three highest-ranking judges will have their term extended by another six months, Chief Justice Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria confirmed today.
Arifin was due to retire at the end of this month but will now continue until next April while he puts together a succession plan.
Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkifli Ahmad Makinun, who are both also due to retire next year, have also been given six-month extensions.
“They will be serving further after I retire,” Arifin told reporters after attending the Malaysian Bar’s International Law Conference today.
Arifin refused to speculate on who will be his possible successor, and stressed that the final decision will be made by the Judicial Appointments Committee (JAC).
Arifin also said that the decision to appoint retired Federal Court judge Tan Sri Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha as an additional judge to the Federal Court was to cope with the need for additional judges in the country’s highest court.
“We need the additional judge, because sometimes we sit with five, or seven judges,” he said.
“The Court of Appeal is disposing of a lot of cases. And we cannot just rush the decisions, we need time to sit and write the judgement,” he added.
