6. Acting Chief Justice
Acting Chief Justice Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamed has delivered many judgments of public interest, the biggest of which was the majority judgment setting aside the corruption conviction against former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in 2004.
In the 2-1 decision, Justice Abdul Hamid said the evidence of Azizan Abu Bakar (Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s former driver) “was doubtful and had no corroborative evidence of a convincing, cogent and irresistible character”.
“Such evidence does not corroborate Azizan’s story that he was sodomised by both of them at the place, time and date specified in the charge.”
Abdul Hamid, 65, is minding the fort following the retirement of Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim who turned 66 on Thursday.
Abdul Hamid, who was appointed President of the Court of Appeal on Sept 5, has six more months to go, as he is due for retirement on April 18.
Born in Permatang Tinggi Bakar Bata, Kepala Batas, Penang, in 1942, he studied at St Xavier’s Institution before graduating with a Bachelor of Laws (Hon) from Singapore University in 1969.
He went straight into the Legal and Judicial Services and served in various capacities for 21 years before his appointment as a judicial commissioner in 1990 and Acting Chief Justice on 1st November, 2007.
In another high profile case – the Highland Towers appeal on Feb 17, 2006 – the Federal Court held the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council was neither responsible for the pre-collapse nor post-collapse period.
“In my view, the provisions of basic necessities for the general public has priority over compensation for pure economic loss of some individuals, who are clearly better off than the majority of the residents in the local council area.”
In the appeal in 2006 by three schoolboys who had been expelled after they refused to remove their turban, Justice Abdul Hamid ruled that Islam was not about serban and beard.
“I accept that the Prophet wore a turban. But he also rode a camel, built his house and mosque with clay walls and roof of leaves of date palms and brushed his teeth with the twig of a plant.
Does that make riding a camel a more pious deed than travelling in an aeroplane?”
He had added that the pupils were only restricted from wearing the serban as part of the school uniform but not at other times.
In a landmark decision as election judge in 1995, Justice Abdul Hamid ruled that the validity of the electoral roll could not be challenged in an election petition after they had been duly displayed and gazetted.
Justice Abdul Hamid ruled that a petition should challenge the manner in which an election was conducted and was not to dispute the names of the rolls after they had been gazetted - Shaila Koshy, The Star.
Read more in The Star.
Welcome aboard, Sir, Justice Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamed. At this crucial period of strife and resentment of the Judiciary, your wisdom and leadership is most awaited at that office. During your short tenure, we are sure you will devote your service to better the cause of justice and fairplay and bring it about speedily.
