KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — Critics who dispute the appointment of Tan Sri Richard Malanjum as Chief Justice are ignoring the historic significance of the occasion, Syahredzan Johan said today.

The lawyer and political secretary to DAP’s Lim Kit Siang pointed out that Malanjum is a Bumiputera and the first native judge from Borneo Malaysia to be elevated to the country’s highest judicial position.

“The first Chief Justice from Borneo, a Bumiputera and a graduate of UiTM, but still insufficient for them, why?” Syahredzan wrote in a Facebook posting in Malay.

“Therefore they will embellish with all sorts of indefensible excuses,” he added.

He was responding to public criticism of Malajum, 65, who was sworn in as the country’s top judge yesterday, replacing Tun Md Raus Sharif.

Syahredzan said some of the critics had even questioned Malanjum’s qualifications.

He acknowledged that some of the critics are not familiar with the judicial system, and told them Malanjum had been the Chief of Judge of Sabah and Sarawak prior to his new position.

He further highlighted that Malanjum was the most senior of all the current judges in the top court.

Malay Muslim conservatives, including PAS politicians, claim the Sabah-born Malanjum’s appointment as Chief Justice will jeopardise their community’s interests by touting select court cases in which his judgment was different from the other judges.

“Those who dispute the appointment of YAA TS Richard raised past decisions in cases like Lina Joy. Apparently with YAA TS Richard as Chief Justice, if there are such cases, it will ‘not side with Islam’ (whatever that means).

“To me, they forget or pretend to forget that a decision in the Federal Court is not made by just one judge. Even in those cases mentioned YAA TS Richard was a ‘dissenting judge’ and not the majority,” Syahredzan wrote.

He added that if the critics made themselves familiar with the Federal Constitution, they would then be aware that there is no need to fear Malanjum’s appointment as the latter would serve less than two years at most, until April 2019, due to his age.