KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 — Two former members of Malaysia’s Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) have confirmed that the prime minister does not always accept the commission’s recommendations for judicial appointments.
“The answer is no,” said retired Court of Appeal judge and former Malaysian Bar president Datuk Mah Weng Kwai, when asked if all JAC recommendations are accepted by the executive. He was speaking at a forum hosted by the Malaysian Bar on judicial independence.
“When it goes to the PM’s Office, everything is done so diplomatically, you will never get an answer from the PM’s Office to say so and so not to be appointed. What we will hear is, Can we have other names please,” Mah explained.
Echoing this, Emeritus Prof Datuk Shad Saleem Faruqi, who also served on the JAC and holds the Tunku Abdul Rahman chair at Universiti Malaya, said: “Same here, the answer is no. In some cases, we rejected candidates and we found their name on the list.”
The remarks came during the first session of the Bar’s forum titled “Judicial Independence in Malaysia: Past Lessons, Current Challenges”, under the theme “Safeguarding the Bench: Judicial Independence in Malaysia.” The session was moderated by Malaysian Bar vice-president Anand Raj, who posed the direct question regarding the executive’s role in judicial appointments.
Under the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2009, the JAC is responsible for vetting and voting on candidates to be appointed or promoted as judges. The commission then submits its recommendations to the prime minister, who in turn advises the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
However, the law does not require the prime minister to accept the JAC’s choices. Instead, the prime minister may request additional or alternative names, effectively allowing the executive to influence judicial appointments.
Datuk Seri M Ramachelvam, another panelist and co-chair of the Bar Council’s Civil Law and Law Reform Committee, acknowledged that the establishment of the JAC had significantly improved the appointment process.
“The JAC has brought about a much better process,” he said, but added that more reform is needed. He urged for constitutional amendments to make the JAC’s recommendations binding on the prime minister.
Such a step, he said, would strengthen the independence of the judiciary and insulate the bench from political considerations.
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