Chief Justice of Malaysia

The chief 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 the lord president of the Federal Court. The chief justice is the head of the Federal Court, the apex court of Malaysia. It is the highest position in Malaysian judicial system followed by the president of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia, chief judge of Malaya, and the chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak.^[3]

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[1] The Right Honorable[1] Her Ladyship[1]
Member of	Federal Court of Malaysia
Seat	Palace of Justice, Putrajaya
Nominator	Prime Minister of Malaysia
Appointer	Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the recommendation and advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	mandatory retirement age at 65 or 66 (at request for minimal extension)
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Malaysia
Inaugural holder	James Thompson as Chief Justice of the Federation of Malaya (1957)
Deputy	President of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia
Salary	RM36,000 monthly[2]
Website	www.kehakiman.gov.my

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

Constitutional basis

The office of chief justice of the Federal Court is established under Article 122 of the Constitution 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).^[4]

Role

The chief justice is first among equals among 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 the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia), on the advice of the prime minister of Malaysia. Under Article 125 of the Malaysian 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 former Federal Court judges.^[5][4] 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.^[5]

Chief justices of Malaysia

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

As of 22 February 2025 a total of 10 chief justices were appointed, listed below :^{[6][7][8][9][10][11]}

#	Portrait	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 the High Court of Malaysia (1989-1995)
						Judge of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia (1995-2000)
						Judge of the Federal 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 the Federal 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 the High Court of Malaysia (1994-2002)
						Judge of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia (2002-2005)
						Judge of the Federal 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 the High Court of Malaysia (1996-2006)
						Judge of the Court 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 the High Court of Malaysia (2004-2006)
						Judge of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia (2002-2005)
						Judge of the Federal 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 297 days	Judge of the High Court of Malaysia (2007-2013)
						Judge of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia (2013-2018)
						Judge of the Federal Court of Malaysia (2018-2019)

Living former chief justices

Name	Term of office	Date of birth
Mohamed Eusoff Chin	1994–2000	10 May 1936 (age 88)
Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim	2003–2007	1 November 1941 (age 83)
Abdul Hamid Mohamad	2007–2008	18 April 1943 (age 81)
Zaki Azmi	2008–2011	12 September 1945 (age 79)
Arifin Zakaria	2011–2017	1 October 1950 (age 74)
Mohamed Raus Sharif	2017–2018	4 February 1951 (age 74)
Richard Malanjum	2018–2019	13 October 1952 (age 72)

See also

• Courts of Malaysia
• 2007 Royal Commission

References

1. "Chief Justice | Office of the Chief Registrar, Federal Court of Malaysia". Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
2. Lim, Ida (18 June 2018). "A look at the resignation of Malaysia's two top judges and what's next". Malay Mail. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
3. "The Malaysian Judiciary: Operation of the court". Malaysian Court. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2007.
4. "Constitution of Malaysia 1957". CommonLII. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
5. "My Constitution: Judges and the judiciary". Malay Mail. Malaysian Bar. 30 December 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
6. "Hamid is made the new CJ". Daily Express. 6 December 2007. Archived from the original on 25 June 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
7. "Karpal seeks royal review of Zaki's appointment". Malaysiakini. 5 December 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
8. "Arifin appointed Chief Justice". The Star (Malaysia). 6 June 2011. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
9. "Md Raus appointed new Chief Justice". The Star (Malaysia). 1 April 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
10. "Richard Malanjum Ketua Hakim Negara yang baharu". Bernama (in Malay). Berita Harian. 11 July 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
11. "Tengku Maimun named new chief justice". Free Malaysia Today. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2019.