‘Kampung boy’ Idrus appointed as federal court judge

KUALA LUMPUR: Court of Appeal judge Idrus Harun has been elevated as a Federal Court judge.

Idrus, 63, who once served as a solicitor-general, had also served as legal adviser in the Election Commission and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

Incidentally, his younger brother, Azhar Harun, is now the current EC chairman.

Both Idrus and Azhar came from a large family of nine siblings, who grew up in the rural hinterland of Kedah, in Kampung Sanglang.

Their father was a village headman, their mother a housewife.

Their eldest sibling is Mahadir, the only Malaysian who was named the best Commonwealth student at the prestigious Lincoln’s Inn in the United Kingdom.

Mahadir returned to Malaysia and served as legal adviser under Dr Mahathir Mohamad when the latter was the trade and industry minister before he became the fourth prime minister in 1981.

Friends who know Idrus describe him as a “kampung boy”, having been educated in the Malay schools.

“His climb up the social ladder has been more difficult than some of his other siblings who were sent to English schools,” a source told FMT.