Chief Justice of Malaysia

Chief Justice of Malaysia
Ketua Hakim Negara Malaysia كتوا حاكيم نڬارا مليسيا‎
Incumbent Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat since 2 May 2019
Federal Court of Malaysia
Style	Yang Amat Arif The Right Honorable Her Ladyship
Member of	Federal Court of Malaysia
Seat	Palace of Justice,Putrajaya
Nominator	Prime Minister of Malaysia
Appointer	Yang di-Pertuan Agong on therecommendationand advice of thePrime Minister
Term length	mandatory retirement age at 65 or 66 (at request for minimal extension)
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Malaysia
Inaugural holder	James Thompson asChief Justice of the Federation of Malaya(1957)
Deputy	President of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia
Salary	RM36,000 monthly
Website	www.kehakiman.gov.my

Thechief justice of Malaysia(Malay:Ketua Hakim Negara Malaysia;Jawi:كتوا حاكيم نڬارا مليسيا‎), also known as the chief justice of the Federal Court, is the office and title of the head of the Malaysian judiciary system. The title has been in use since 1994, and prior to this it was known as thelord president of the Federal Court.The chief justice is the head of theFederal Court,theapex courtof Malaysia. It is the highest position in Malaysian judicial system followed by thepresident of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia,chief judge of Malaya,and thechief judge of Sabah and Sarawak.

The current chief justice isTengku Maimun Tuan Mat,since 2 May 2019.

Constitutional basis

The office of Chief Justice of the Federal Court is established under Article 122 of theConstitution of Malaysia,which establishes the then-Supreme Court (now Federal Court) as consisting of a lord president (now chief justice), the chief judges of the High Courts and at least four other judges and such additional judges as may be appointed pursuant to Clause (1A).

Role

The chief justice isfirst among equalsamong the judges of the Federal Court, and the position differs little from that of the other judges. All judges, including the chief justice, are appointed by theYang di-Pertuan Agong(King of Malaysia), on the advice of theprime minister of Malaysia.Under Article 125 of theMalaysian Constitution,they can be removed only by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, on a recommendation from a tribunal consisting of at least five judges who are current or formerFederal Courtjudges.Reasons for removal include the chief justice:

• not following the Judges’ Code of Ethics; or
• being physically or mentally unable to carry out his or her duties.

The prime minister will then provide the Yang di-Pertuan Agong the reason(s) why the chief justice should be removed. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong will then proceed to set up the tribunal to make a decision.

Chief justices of Malaysia

For lord presidents before 1994, seeLord President of the Federal Court.

As of 5 October 2024 a total of 10 Chief Justices were appointed, listed below:

#	Potrait	Chief Justice	Term of office			Prior senior judicial offices
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Tun Abdul Hamid Omar (1929–2009)	10 November 1988	24 September 1994	5 years and 319 days
2		Tun Mohamed Eusoff Chin (b.1936)	25 September 1994	19 December 2000	6 years and 86 days	Chief Judge of Malaya(1994)
3		Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah (1938–2024)	20 December 2000	14 March 2003	2 years and 85 days
4		Tun Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim (b.1941)	16 March 2003	31 October 2007	4 years and 230 days	Judge of theHigh Court of Malaysia(1989-1995)
						Judge of theCourt of Appeal of Malaysia(1995-2000)
						Judge of theFederal Court of Malaysia(2000-2001)
						Chief Judge of Malaya(2001–2002)
						President of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia(2002-2003)
5		Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad (b.1943)	2 November 2007	18 October 2008	352 days	President of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia(2007)
6		Tun Zaki Azmi (b.1945)	18 October 2008	9 September 2011	2 years and 327 days	Judge of theFederal Court of Malaysia(2007)
						President of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia(2007–2008)
7		Tun Arifin Zakaria (b.1950)	12 September 2011	31 March 2017	5 years and 201 days	Judge of theHigh Court of Malaysia(1994-2002)
						Judge of theCourt of Appeal of Malaysia(2002-2005)
						Judge of theFederal Court of Malaysia(2005-2008)
						Chief Judge of Malaya(2008–2011)
8		Tun Mohamed Raus Sharif (b.1951)	02009-10-01-031 April 2017	02009-10-01-0310 July 2018	1 year and 101 days	Judge of theHigh Court of Malaysia(1996-2006)
						Judge of theCourt of Appeal of Malaysia(2006-2011)
						President of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia(2011–2017)
9		Tun Richard Malanjum (b.1952)	02009-10-01-0311 July 2018	02009-10-01-0312 April 2019	276 days	Judge of theHigh Court of Malaysia(2004-2006)
						Judge of theCourt of Appeal of Malaysia(2002-2005)
						Judge of theFederal Court of Malaysia(2005-2006)
						Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak(2006–2018)
10		Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat (b.1959)	02009-10-01-032 May 2019	Incumbent	5 years and 157 days	Judge of theHigh Court of Malaysia(2007-2013)
						Judge of theCourt of Appeal of Malaysia(2013-2018)
						Judge of theFederal Court of Malaysia(2018-2019)

Living former Chief Justices

Name	Term of office	Date of birth
Mohamed Eusoff Chin	1994–2000	10 May 1936 (age88)
Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim	2003–2007	1 November 1941 (age82)
Abdul Hamid Mohamad	2007–2008	18 April 1943 (age81)
Zaki Azmi	2008–2011	12 September 1945 (age79)
Arifin Zakaria	2011–2017	1 October 1950 (age74)
Mohamed Raus Sharif	2017–2018	4 February 1951 (age73)
Richard Malanjum	2018–2019	13 October 1952 (age71)

See also

• Courts of Malaysia
• 2007 Royal Commission