High court (Malaysia)

The high courts in Malaysia are the third-highest courts in the hierarchy of courts, after the Federal Court and the Court of Appeal. Article 121 of the Constitution of Malaysia provides that there shall be two high courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction—the High Court in Malaya and the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak (before 1994, the High Court in Borneo). Before 1969, the High Court in Singapore was also part of the Malaysian courts system (see Law of Singapore).

High Court of Malaya/ High Court of Sabah and Sarawak
Mahkamah Tinggi Malaya/ Mahkamah Tinggi Sabah dan Sarawak
Established	1957
Composition method	Royal appointment with the advice of the Prime Minister
Authorised by	Federal Constitution
Appeals to	Court of Appeals of Malaysia
Judge term length	Compulsory retirement at age 66
Number of positions	Peninsular Malaysia: 60 (including 16 vacancies) Sabah and Sarawak: 13 (including 5 vacancies)
Website	www.kehakiman.gov.my
Chief Judge of the High Court of Malaya
Currently	Hasnah Mohammed Hashim
Since	12 November 2024
Chief Judge of the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak
Currently	Azizah Nawawi
Since	28 July 2025

The High Court in Malaya has its principal registry in Kuala Lumpur, with other registries to be found in all states in Peninsular Malaysia, while the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak has its principal registry in Kuching, with other registries elsewhere in Sabah and Sarawak. There are in total 22 high court registries across all 13 states in Malaysia.^[1] The two High Courts also travel on circuit to other smaller towns.

The two high courts, the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court are classified as superior courts, while the magistrates' courts and the sessions courts are classified as the subordinate courts. The high courts function both as a court of original jurisdiction as well as an appellate court, and are each headed by a chief judge (before 1994, chief justice). The chief judges of Malaya and Sabah and Sarawak are the third and fourth highest positions in Malaysian judiciary after the Chief Justice of the Federal Court (before 1994, the Lord President of the Supreme Court) and the President of the Court of Appeal.^[2]

High court registries in Malaysia

All high court registries and the subordinate courts found in Peninsular Malaysia including the courts in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya are under the jurisdiction of the High Court in Malaya. Similarly, all courts found in East Malaysia are under the jurisdiction of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak including the courts in the Federal Territory of Labuan.

Kota Kinabalu

George Town

Kuala Lumpur

Petaling Jaya

Ipoh

Johor Bahru

Temerloh

Shah Alam

Seremban

Malacca

Muar

Kuantan

Taiping

Alor Star

Kuala Terengganu

Kota Bharu

Kangar

Sandakan

Tawau

Kuching

Miri

Sibu

Bintulu

Locations of High Courts in Malaysia

List of chief justices and chief judges

Johor Bahru High Court

Malaya and Malaysia (on the federation level)

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Malayan Union (1946 – 1948)

• 1946–1948: Sir Harold Curwen Willan^[3]

Chief Justice of the Federation of Malaya (1948 – 1957)

• 1948–1950: Harold Curwen Willan
• 1950–1951: Sir Stafford Foster-Sutton
• 1951–1956: Sir Charles Mathew

Chief Justice of the Federation of Malaya (1957 – 1963)

• 1957–1963: Tun Sir James Thomson

Lord President of the Federal Court (1963 – 1985)

Main article: Lord President of the Federal Court

• 1963–1966: Tun Sir James Thomson
• 1966–1968: Tun Syed Sheh Hassan Barakbah
• 1966–1974: Tun Mohamed Azmi Mohamed
• 1974–1982: Tun Mohamed Suffian Mohamed Hashim
• 1982–1984: Raja Tun Azlan Shah
• 1984–1985: Tun Salleh Abas

Lord President of the Supreme Court (1985 – 1994)

Main article: Lord President of the Supreme Court

• 1985–1989: Tun Salleh Abas
• 1989–1994: Tun Abdul Hamid Omar

States of Malaya (since 1963)

Chief Justice of Malaya (1963 – 1994, after which the designation was changed to Chief Judge of Malaya)

Source:^[4]

• 1963–1966: Syed Sheh Barakbah
• 1966–1968: Mohamed Azmi Mohamed
• 1968–1973: Ong Hock Thye
• 1973–1974: Mohamed Suffian Mohamed Hashim
• 1974–1979: Sarwan Singh Gill
• 1979–1982: Raja Azlan Shah (later 34th Sultan of Perak and 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia)
• 1982–1984: Salleh Abas
• 1984–1989: Abdul Hamid Omar
• 1989–1992: Hashim Yeop Sani
• 1992–1994: Gunn Chit Tuan

Some modern texts will refer to them as Chief Judges.^[5]

Chief Judge of Malaya (since 1994)

• 1994: Mohamed Eusoff Chin
• 1994–1997: Anuar Zainal Abidin
• 1997–2000: Wan Adnan Ismail
• 2000–2002: Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim
• 2002–2004: Haidar Mohamed Noor
• 2004–2006: Siti Norma Yaakob
• 2007–2008: Alauddin Sheriff
• 2008–2011: Arifin Zakaria
• 2011–2017: Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin
• 2017–2018: Ahmad Maarop
• 2018–2019: Zaharah Ibrahim
• 2019–2022: Azahar Mohamed
• 2023–2024: Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah
• 2024–present: Hasnah Mohammed Hashim

Borneo (North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak)

Main article: Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak

North Borneo			Sarawak
Office	Justice	Tenure	Office	Justice	Tenure
Chief Justice of North Borneo (until 1951)	Charles Frederick Cunningham Macaskie CMG	1934 to 1941	Chief Justice of Sarawak (1930-1951)	Thomas Jamieson Laycock Stirling Boyd	1930 to 1939
				H. Thackwell-Lewis	1939 to 1945
	Japanese occupation	1942 to 1945		Japanese occupation	1942 to 1945
	Sir Ivor Llewellyn Brace	1945 to 1951		Robert Yorke Hedges	1946 to 1951
Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei
Office	Title	Justice		Tenure
Chief Justice of the Combined Judiciary of Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei (1951–1963)	Sir	Ivor Llewellyn Brace		02009-10-01-031 December 1951 – 02009-10-01-0324 October 1952
	Sir	Ernest Hillas Williams JP		c. 1957
	Sir	John Ainley MC		02009-10-01-035 December 1959 – 02009-10-01-031 January 1963
	Sir	William Campbell Wylie QC		02009-10-01-032 January 1963 – 02009-10-01-0315 September 1963
Sabah and Sarawak
Office	Title	Justice		Tenure
Chief Justice of Borneo (1963–1994)	Sir	William Campbell Wylie QC		02009-10-01-0316 September 1963 – 02009-10-01-0327 August 1965
	Sir Tan Sri	Philip Ernest Housden Pike QC		02009-10-01-0311 September 1965 – 02009-10-01-0327 August 1968
	Tan Sri Dato'	Ismail Khan Ibrahim Khan		02009-10-01-032 September 1968 – 02009-10-01-0331 December 1973
	Tan Sri Datuk Amar	Lee Hun Hoe		02009-10-01-031 January 1974 – 02009-10-01-0331 December 1988
	Tan Sri Datuk Amar	Mohamad Jemuri Serjan		02009-10-01-0311 March 1989 – 02009-10-01-0323 June 1994
Office	Title	Justice		Tenure
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak (since 1994)	Tan Sri Datuk Amar	Mohamad Jemuri Serjan		02009-10-01-0324 June 1994 – 02009-10-01-039 September 1994
	Tan Sri Datuk Amar	Chong Siew Fai		02009-10-01-0316 June 1995 – 02009-10-01-033 July 2000
	Tan Sri Datuk Amar	Steve Shim Lip Kiong		02009-10-01-032 July 2000 – 02009-10-01-0325 July 2006
	Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima	Richard Malanjum		02009-10-01-0326 July 2006 – 02009-10-01-0311 July 2018
	Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima	David Wong Dak Wah		02009-10-01-0311 July 2018 – 02009-10-01-0319 February 2020
	Tan Sri Datuk Amar	Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim		02009-10-01-0325 February 2020 – 02009-10-01-0317 January 2023
	Dato'	Abdul Rahman Sebli		02009-10-01-0317 January 2023 – 25 July 202502009-10-01-03
		Azizah Nawawi		28 July 2025 – Incumbent

Singapore

Main article: Chief Justice of Singapore

Office	Title	Justice	Tenure
Chief Justice of Singapore (1963–1969 (as part of Malaysia, 1963–1965))	Tan Sri	Wee Chong Jin	1963 to 1969

See also

• Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements
• Federal Court of Malaysia
• Malaysian Court of Appeal
• Judiciary of Malaysia
• Lord President of the Federal Court
• Chief Justice of Malaysia
• President of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia
• Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak
• 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal