KUALA LUMPUR: The rise of women to the highest ranks of Malaysia’s judiciary is not the result of design or symbolism, but of merit, courage and excellence, says Chief Justice Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh.
He said all four of the judiciary’s top posts have been held by women at different points, reflecting a system that recognises ability above all else.
“I am proud to say that all four top positions in our judiciary were once held by women – not in succession, not by design, but by merit, by courage, and by the simple, undeniable truth that talent knows no gender,” he said yesterday.
Delivering a special address at the Bar Council’s Women’s Rights Conference 2026, Wan Ahmad Farid described the judiciary as the “last bastion of justice”, built on the strength of its finest minds regardless of gender.
He paid tribute to his predecessor Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, former Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf, former Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Siti Norma Yaakob, and Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Azizah Nawawi.
Wan Ahmad Farid said their appointments marked defining moments in the judiciary’s evolution, breaking long-standing barriers.
“The glass ceiling was not merely shattered once; it was shattered four times, and each time it broke with a gavel, in a courtroom, on the strength of a judgment,” he said.
“These are not just names in a list of appointments. They are proof that justice, when given a woman’s hand, does not falter. It leads.”
On the conference theme “Together We Create PowHER”, he said power should be understood as something created and shared, not simply held.
He noted that “justice is not only what happens in a courtroom. It is what happens in the culture of our institutions and in the daily experience of those within them”.
Drawing from personal experience, the father of six daughters said each had charted her own path across different fields.
“The greatest disservice a parent or society can do to a young woman is to hand her a life she did not choose and call it guidance,” he added.
In a separate session, Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said regulating harmful online content remains a major challenge as global tech companies resist national laws.
He said enforcement gaps persist because platforms often operate across borders and view themselves as beyond the reach of individual governments.
“The biggest problem we have is compliance. Some platforms behave as if they were supranational entities, larger than nations, and as if our laws do not apply to them,” he said in a special session on online safety and harassment.
Fahmi stressed that while governments have introduced laws to combat online violence, particularly against women, meaningful progress depends on cooperation from platform owners.
“Tech companies may be large, but they must not be larger than the law,” he said.
He also shared a candid account of efforts to secure engagement from industry players, including holding discussions at Bukit Aman.
“I told them there are many rooms there, and we were meeting in the comfortable one,” he said, underscoring the seriousness of the issue.
“But the message was clear – these are not abstract concerns. People’s lives must be prioritised.”
Stressing the importance of regional coordination in “a whole-of-Asean approach”, Fahmi said unilateral action by a single country would have a limited impact.
