Meet Ariff Yusof, the new speaker

New Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof may not be known by many, except those in the legal fraternity, to whom he was a fair-minded judge when he was on the bench

When he was appointed a High Court judicial commissioner in 2008 and confirmed a year later, he was entrusted with what is now known as the Perak constitutional crisis case, involving Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin and Zambry Abdul Kadir.

However, before the start of the proceedings in February 2009, Ariff – then a judicial commissioner – declared to all parties his past involvement with PAS, a party Nizar represented in Pakatan Rakyat, and decided to recuse himself from the case.

Ariff contested under the PAS ticket in 2004 for the Kota Damansara state seat.

He also informed all parties in court before recusing himself that he had also represented PAS and BN in past election petition cases as a lawyer.

Ariff was born in Kedah and was a graduate from the Royal Military College in Sungai Besi.

The 69-year-old obtained his law degree from the London School of Economics, and obtained his Bar at Law qualification from Lincoln's Inn.

Upon returning in 1974, he became a law lecturer at Universiti Malaya and eventually an associate professor, and rose to become the deputy dean of the Faculty of Law.

He then went on to private practice and was a founding partner in the law firm Cheang & Ariff.

From 1993 to 1995, he took leave from legal practice and joined the newly-formed Securities Commission to become its first-ever director of the market supervision department.

On joining the judiciary in 2008, he was confirmed as a High Court judge in Oct 2009. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2012, and retired under three years later.

Landmark decisions

Among his renowned judgments was when he, as High Court judge, lifted the suspensionand restored the pay of Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo back in 2012.

He was also the High Court judge who helped lift the ban on Sisters in Islam's book Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism. He asked how a book that was already in circulation in 2005 could be prohibited three years later due to allegations of being prejudicial to public order.

Ariff also led the panel in the Court of Appeal bench in Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad's challenge on the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012. Nik Nazmi had sought for Section 9 of the act, which concerns the requirement to give a 10-day notice for gatherings, to be declared unconstitutional.

With three other judges at the Court of Appeal, he also overturned the open verdict on the death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock at the then-headquarters of Selangor MACC.

Ariff also led the bench that lifted the ban on the cartoonist Zulkiflee SM Anuar ul Haque, better known as Zunar, over the books 1Funny Malaysia and Perak Darul Kartun – saying the court could not see how cartoons could overthrow a government.

In an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini upon his retirement, he said universities today are limiting academic freedom.

He subsequently worked as a consultant in Cheang & Ariff and also joined the Asian International Arbitration Centre's panel of arbitrators.

The father of five was also Parti Amanah Negara's disciplinary committee chairperson, but has since relinquished the post. - Mkini