JULY 2 — Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said it was not an issue that her tenure was not extended.
On her final day in office yesterday, she said she had no regrets over her six-year service as the chief justice.
“The fact that I have not been extended for another six months, that’s no issue. No issue at all. Six months is not significant compared to the six years,” she said.
She who had spoken of proposals to amend the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2009 and the Federal Constitution to remove the role of the prime minister in the appointment of judges, had not, however, spoken of increasing the retirement age of judges.
That’s unlike her predecessor Tun Arifin Zakaria who said that the retirement age of judges should be increased to 70 years old.
On her final day in office yesterday, Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said she had no regrets over her six-year service as the chief justice. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
“We should amend our Constitution to increase the retirement age as the life expectancy of Malaysians has gone up,” Arifin was reported to have said at a special media interview in March 2017.
“The current retirement age of our judges is quite young compared to other jurisdictions. We have to be trendy, we have to follow the trend,” he added in jest.
The current retirement age of judges under the Federal Constitution is 66 years old which may be extended for no more than six months.
In Australia, federal judges retire at the age of 70 following a constitutional referendum in 1977. In recent years there have been calls to increase the retirement age to 75.
It has been argued that the retirement age of 70 in this day and age oftentimes denies the people of Australia the continued benefit of a judge’s acquired knowledge on the bench and a willingness to commit themselves to the hard work of delivering justice.
As such, raising the retirement age to 75 is one that is worthy of consideration. As a matter of fact, one judge of the Family Court of Australia on his retirement in 2015 said “judges should be able to go on till 80”, adding that judges “are sent to pasture too early”.
In New Zealand, judges retire at the age of 70, up in 2006 from 68 years old since 1980. Even so, too many “fine legal minds” are said to be lost at that age.
In the United Kingdom (UK), the retirement age is 75, up in 2022 from 70 which dated back to 1993. The change sought to address the fact that people continued to work later into their lives and the government did not want to lose valued members of the judiciary.
Raising the retirement age allows the country to retain invaluable judicial experience, while ensuring that judicial roles are open to a wider pool of talent.
So yes, when it comes to the retirement age of judges, we aren’t trendy.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
