IT has surfaced that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s hesitation to push for a six-month extension to the term of former chief justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat could be due to her initial involvement in the prosecution’s appeal against his acquittal in his second sod*my case a dozen years ago.
This was when the late Karpal Singh who was the Opposition leader’s lead counsel had on Sept 17, 2013 applied to have Tengku Maimun recused from the panel hearing the appeal.
This piece of information was shared on X by former Barisan Nasional (BN) strategic communication deputy director Datuk Eric See-To probably to insinuate PMX’s reluctance to extend Tengku Maimun’s service term which ended on Tuesday (July 1) upon her reaching the mandatory retirement age of 66.
“Karpal argued that the reason for the application was Tengku Maimun’s previous involvement in a civil suit filed by Anwar against twice former premiere Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad back in 2007,” penned the pro-Datuk Seri Najib Razak blogger.
In 2013, Anwar Ibrahim’s lead counsel at the time, the late Karpal Singh, successfully applied to have Justice Tengku Maimun recused from the panel hearing the appeal in the Sodomy II case.
Karpal argued that the reason for the application was Tengku Maimun’s previous… pic.twitter.com/hAN8nyqUTl
— Eric SeeTo Lim Sian See (@LimSianSeeEric) July 2, 2025
“He pointed out that in her judgment for that case, Tengku Maimun had adopted findings suggesting that Anwar had a homosex*al tendency. Henceforth, Karpal argued that it would be inappropriate for Tengku Maimun to preside over the case”.
Following Karpel’s submission, Tengku Maimun eventually recused herself from hearing the prosecutor’s appeal “which Anwar eventually lost”.
Whether the past has any bearing on today’s development is as good as anybody’s guess.
However, for the record, PMX has hit out at both the legal fraternity and Malaysians at large who rallied for Tengku Maimun’s extension on ground of having rendered impeccable service for politicising the matter when an extension is never automatic.
On her part, Tengku Maimun has accepted her retirement in good faith while justifying that extending her service a further six months “is not significant at all” compared to her having completed her six-year tenure as Malaysia’s first female chief justice.
All-in-all, good governance advocate ksampoh@MyOwn Inc(@ksampoh) verified as true what was shared by the opposition-slant See-To who also goes by the moniker Lim Sian See.
“Now, he (PMX) says no extension for her as chief justice. Officially, it’s about respecting retirement age. But fair question – does DSAI still carry a personal grudge from that old court history?” wondered ksampoh@MyOwn Inc.
“Only he knows – but history leaves marks.” – July 3, 2025
