This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 10, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: The country made history last July when Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum became the first Sabahan to be appointed the chief justice (CJ).

Could there be another historic appointment next week with a woman sworn in as Malanjum’s replacement?

Malanjum will go on mandatory retirement on Friday upon reaching 66 years and six months — the constitutional maximum age to hold the office.

The Edge Financial Daily learnt that three names were submitted to the Prime Minister’s Department as the next CJ, and at least one of them is female. The names were recommended by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) chaired by Malanjum last week.

Under Section 26 of the JAC Act 2009, the commission can make the recommendation to the prime minister on whom it thinks would be the right candidate, while Section 27 allows the premier to ask JAC for two additional names as the new CJ, Court of Appeal president, chief judge of Malaya and chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak.

Currently, the Federal Court has the most female judges, one of them being Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zaharah Ibrahim, ranked third in the judiciary. However, Zaharah goes on mandatory retirement in May.

That leaves Federal Court Judges Datuk Alizatul Khair Othman Khairuddin, Datuk Rohana Yusof, Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and Datuk P Nalini as the remaining female judges at the Federal Court.

The Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Ahmad Ma’arop, the No 2 in the judiciary, could also be in the running as the next CJ.

Another name bandied around is former solicitor-general and recently elevated Federal Court Judge Tan Sri Idrus Harun, who is the elder brother of Election Commission chairperson Azhar Azizan Harun.