PUTRAJAYA: The Conference of Rulers will meet for three days in Kuala Terengganu next week to decide on a new chief justice following the compulsory retirement of Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad on Oct 17.

The rulers will also decide on the elevation of three judges to the Federal Court.

Under the Federal Constitution, the chief justice proposes names to the prime minister who would then forward a list to the Conference of Rulers for consultation.

The king appoints candidates on the advice of the prime minister.

By convention, Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Zaki Azmi, the second in the judicial ladder, would be the front-runner for appointment to head the bench.
He was appointed to the Federal Court in September last year and two months later Zaki, now 63, was made Court of Appeal president.

However, some 25,000 people have signed a petition to the king to object to his elevation due to his involvement with Umno, including being chairman of the party's disciplinary board.

Bar Council vice-chairman Ragunath Kesavan said Zaki's past should not be held against him as there were candidates associated with political parties who were appointed as judicial officers.

He said recently appointed judicial commissioner Mohamed Ariff Md Yusof contested on a Pas ticket in the 2004 general election while retired Court of Appeal judge Datuk Ariffin Jaka also stood under the opposition party's banner in the 1978 polls.

"The most important consideration is whether a chief justice will display judicial independence and uphold the oath of his office."

Retired Court of Appeal judge Datuk Shaikh Daud Shaikh Ismail said at one time the Conference of Rulers appeared to have acted like a rubber stamp in endorsing judicial appointments but this was not the case going by recent developments.

Last year, the rulers rejected the nominees proposed by former chief justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

Hamid was then appointed chief justice and Zaki as Court of Appeal president.

Shaikh Daud said this implied the rulers questioned the executive as they wanted the right candidates to be appointed.

"The Conference of Rulers may do the same thing again this time," he said.

"I believe that the public wants the Conference of Rulers to act in the interest of the nation. They will definitely get the support of the people," he said.

Other possible contenders for the post of chief justice are Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff, 62, and Federal Court judge Datuk Arifin Zakaria, 60.

It appears most likely, Zaki will be promoted to chief justice, Alauddin to Court of Appeal president and Arifin to chief judge of Malaya.

On the appointments for the three vacancies in the Federal Court, retired Supreme Court judge Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin said, "if everything else is equal, then seniority should be the criterion for promoting existing Court of Appeal judges".

However, past appointments to the apex court had put seniority on the backburner.

Azmi said under normal circumstances the prime minister would follow the suggestions of the chief justice but nothing could stop him from getting additional names for consideration by the rulers.

The most senior judges in the Court of Appeal now are Datuk Gopal Sri Ram, Datuk Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Tengku Baharuddin Shah Tengku Mahmud.