PUTRJAYA is raising the retirement age of judges from 66 to 70 years, said Liew Vui Keong.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said amendments to Article 125 would be tabled at the next meeting of parliament in two weeks.

The last parliament session for the year is on October 15 to December 19.

Raising the judges’ retirement age is one of the Institutional Reforms Committee’s (IRC) several recommendations for judicial reform.

Liew, who is the de facto Law Minister, said judges’ retirement age was a global issue.

“In other countries such as Australia and the U), the judges retire at the age of 70 and in fact there is a proposal in Australia that judges retire at the age of 80, provided they pass a medical examination,” he told members of the Kuching Bar last night.

Liew said that recently the Indian Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph had also urged the Indian government to raise the retirement age of judges to 70.

Earlier, in discussions with the legal fraternity, Liew said he would study the request of the Advocates Association of Sarawak (AAS) to have a representative in the enpanded Judicial Appointments Commission.

The commission deliberates and makes recommendations on the appointment of judges.

The Law Society of Sabah and the Bar Council have also made a similar request to have their respective presidents in the committee.

The requests were made following the government’s decision to adopt another IRC recommendation to “set up a new” Judicial Appointments Commission by appointing three former Court of Appeal judges and constitutional law expert.

Currently, the committee is made up of nine members and is chaired by Chief Justice of Malaysia Richard Malanjum.

Liew said the legal fraternity’s request was “not unreasonable” and “there are some justifications”.

“Since some of the judges are appointed from the legal fraternity, they want a say in the appointments,” he said. – October 9, 2018.