“It is the ex-judge,” Malaysiakini quoted him as telling reporters when asked on the identity of the candidate for new speaker at the sidelines after meeting with the Sarawak government this morning.

Mahathir then said “yes” when asked if he was referring to Ariff.

An official announcement is expected to be made soon.

Meanwhile, the New Straits Times reported Ariff as saying that he was still waiting for the official appointment letter.

“We will have to (wait and) see because if the letter is issued tomorrow, it will be too close (to the Parliament session on Monday).

“I don’t think (the letter will be issued) on Sunday,” he told NST.

Ariff will be Malaysia’s 9th Dewan Rakyat speaker.

He retired from the Malaysian Judiciary in  early 2015.

Before this, he was a Judicial Commissioner, High Court of Malaya in 2008, later a Judge of the High Court, and thereafter became a Judge of the Court of Appeal in 2012.

He took leave from legal practice between 1993 and 1995 to join the newly-formed Securities Commission of Malaysia and became the first Director of its Market Supervision Department.

Ariff and another former Court of Appeal judge, Mohd Hishamudin Yunus, were said to be among those being considered for the position.

Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul, who was earlier tipped to be the next Dewan Rakyat Speaker, said he had turned down the offer.