KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 — His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, today presented instruments of appointment to two judges at Istana Negara.
The ceremony began with the presentation to Court of Appeal judge Alice Loke Yee Ching, followed by High Court judge Elaine Yap Chin Gaik.
Present were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, Chief Justice Tun Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar, Court of Appeal President Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Jais, Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Seri Hashim Hamzah and Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Azizah Nawawi.
Loke, 64, was appointed Senior Federal Counsel in 2013, a position she held until 2018. She was appointed a judicial commissioner of the Shah Alam High Court on July 10, 2020. She was elevated to Shah Alam High Court judge on Jan 17, 2023, before being appointed to the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s Special Powers Division on Aug 18, 2025.
As a Kuala Lumpur High Court judge, Loke handled Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s judicial review application over an alleged addendum order allowing the former prime minister to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest.
During her tenure as Senior Federal Counsel, Loke was involved in several high-profile cases, including admiralty proceedings at the Kuala Lumpur High Court to seize the Equanimity, a vessel allegedly built using funds from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). She also handled the Sulu claim and lawsuits filed against the Malaysian government over the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Meanwhile, Yap, 53, holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney and a Diploma in International Arbitration from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She was appointed a judicial commissioner of the Shah Alam High Court on Aug 28, 2024, before taking up the same position at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Nov 3, 2025.
