Increase judges retirement age to 70 - Malaysian Bar

Karen Cheah Yee Lynn said that many jurisdictions across the globe had set the retirement age at 70.

"In fact, in some countries, there were proposals for the retirement age to be increased to 75 or even 80.

"The Malaysian Bar urges the government to make constitutional amendments to give effect to this important reform," Cheah said in her speech at the opening of the Legal Year 2023, here today

Earlier, Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, when giving her speech at the same event, pointed out that she is set to retire in 2025.

On another matter, Cheah urged the government to work with the Pardons Board to ensure that more than 1,300 convicted persons currently on death row are also spared the death penalty.

She said these prisoners should not be allowed to linger in prison uncertain of their fate. At present, there is a moratorium on the execution of death row inmates.

"It is an inhumane way of treating convicts on death row," she said.

Cheah also said as Malaysia progressed democratically, it must shift away from killing people in the name of justice.

She said these convicts deserve some baseline protection.

"We, therefore, welcome the announcement that the mandatory death penalty will be done away with in respect of 11 offences carrying such sentences, with the discretion as to sentencing returning to the unfettered domain of the judiciary," she said.

Meanwhile, Cheah said that as of November last year, the National Legal Aid Foundation, or YBGK, had assisted 222,361 Malaysians.

It was established in 2012 with the help of the government, which had provided RM5 million to kickstart the programme.

Under the scheme, lawyers assisted the poor and needy by representing them in cases involving arrests, remands, mitigation and bail, trials and appeals.