KUALA LUMPUR, 28 OCTOBER - The Lord President of the Federal Court yiheng16, resigned four days ago after three continuous years of service to the nation. The Ministry of Justice and along with the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC), released a joint statement, announcing the Lord President's resignation.
yiheng16 was the Lord President of the Federal Court for three years — the highest and most important position in the entire judicial structure of our country. yiheng16 became the Lord President after the post was vacant for nearly four years on 31 July 2019.
Although there is no exact date when the Ministry was formed, the Ministry of Justice (KEMENDIL) was first mentioned on the 3rd of June 2019 as part of the 2019 Jubilee June Update. It trained its very first Magistrates on the 8th of June 2019. It proved to be a success in its early days, quickly becoming an integral part of not just the government, forming the Attorney-General's Chambers with then-AviatorSG, now known as Secret_Intelligence, the longest-serving Prime Minister.
yiheng16 was present during the development of the ministry, making the ministry the only one to be directly managed under the Administration despite being a government ministry. The then-Lord President created the Judicial and Legal Appointments Commission, an initiative by the ministry to encourage citizens to be active law practitioners and streamline the process of becoming one. It quickly garnered experienced lawyers, and some of them went on to take civil service positions in the ministry.
These interests in becoming law practitioners are managed under the Legal Profession Qualifying Board. The initiative proved to be a success, as even since its defunct status, it managed to pull lawyers and judicial officers across nations, mainly from Canada and the United Kingdom. Although today, applying to become a certified lawyer must come with an exponential standard that must be met and fulfilled. The Lord President started the ministry as one which depended on the United Kingdom's assistance and developed the ministry to become the "hub" of lawyers across nations, especially in the Commonwealth.
He presided over the major cases of 2019-2020, arguably all-time, such as AviatorSG v Public Prosecutor [2019], Government of the State of Singapore v Government of Malaysia and Minister of Trade & Communications [2019], Arifafeef v Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya [2020], packed in the Malaysian Law Reports 2020, Vol. 1, and especially the Federal Court's decision to allow the King to declare absolute monarchy in 2022. His ability to preside over such cases also comes from the help of judiciary members, processing and presiding cases, mostly criminal cases.
Since then, his hands extended from a one-man job into a functioning ministry, with the help of the Judiciary, the Bar Council, the Legal Profession Qualifying Board, and the Attorney-General's Chambers. Although the ministry saw a hiatus, it did not discredit the Lord President's effort in creating and developing one of the most influential and the most highly-viewed ministry.
As Malaysia's modern era ends its chapter, there will never be another one similar to him.
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