Tengku Maimun, who made history as the first woman to be appointed the top judge in 2019, said she had been criticised, vilified, accused of being un-Islamic and even labelled an enemy of Islam.

She said her husband Zamani Ibrahim had been used against her in some applications, not only to have her recused but also to embarrass her and her colleagues.

“Praise be to Allah, I have not once lost sleep over these comments,” she said in her speech at the opening of the legal year today.

Tengku Maimun said she had carried the burden, image and overall responsibilities of the judiciary for almost six years.

“And, what a task it has been – one that I do not envy the next person who should carry it,” she said.

Appointed top judge six months after her promotion to the Federal Court in November 2018, Tengku Maimun said she had never sought the position but that she had been entrusted with the role.

“It is an extremely intimidating position to hold. My only master is Allah SWT.

“I have the utmost faith in my religion which holds me accountable only to Allah on Judgment Day,” she said, adding that she looks forward to retirement after nearly six years in office.

Tengku Maimun said constitutional decisions in the past six years had permanently endorsed the notion that there were “basic features” of the Federal Constitution that could not be altered or taken away even by way of an amendment.

She said these included Islam as the religion of the federation, the national language, the special position of the Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak, a democratic constitutional monarchy and the independence of the judiciary.

“To whittle away any of these features would be to destroy the essence of the constitution itself,” she added.

She said any future decision that denied the existence of the doctrine of constitutional supremacy would amount to a major regression in the development of Malaysia’s constitutional jurisprudence.