A near-record crowd of lawyers easily fulfilled the quorum needed for the Bar Council’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) today to vote in favour of three motions regarding the controversial Legal Profession (Amendment) Bill.
The members had earlier been up in arms when the Bar Council set the EGM date at very short notice, giving them just 12 days to gather 2,500 lawyers needed to fulfil the quorum criteria.
GK Ganesan, 45, one of the leading requisitionist told malaysiakini that he was elated when 3,243 lawyers turned up at the closed-door meeting this afternoon.
Quorum was reached at 3:20pm today at Dewan Lee Sang Choon, Wisma MCA in Kuala Lumpur today.
“When the meeting started, the house rose and wanted to pass the motions without even going into any debates,” he said. The meeting lasted a mere 15 minutes.
“It was an overwhelming majority and all motions were passed against this draconian and unfair legislation,” he said.
He also noted that this was the first time in 20 years that quorum was not only reached in single day but had exceeded by over 1,000 members.
The requisition was filed on July 30 and the developments have been swift as this matter was of urgency.
The motions include the request to the Bar Council to get government assistance in halting a number of contentious issues involving the Act, which had been passed by Parliament but has yet been gazetted.
Far-reaching implications
This include the far-reaching implications affecting members over disciplinary measure and procedures and in removing the right to judicial review of any decision made by the Bar Council’s disciplinary board.
Among the clauses being disputed are the amended sections 76(2) and (3), which state that secrecy can be maintained by the members of the examining board, the Bar Council, the disciplinary board and committee and its staff.
In effect, they are exempted from disclosing any information relating to such proceedings or matters in court.
Another amendment relates to section 103E(2) which states that “there shall be no judicial review against any decision or order made by the disciplinary board”.
This effectively limits the appeals mechanism which lawyers can now access should they appear before the disciplinary board.
Other contested amendments include the curtailment of lawyers’ right to be heard; breach of lawyers’ right against self-incrimination; and wide powers given to the board to make restitution orders against lawyers.
Another motion that was passed was the setting up of an ad-hoc committee consisting of no more than seven senior members of the Malaysian Bar to carry out an in-depth study on the effects of the amendments.
Bar Council president Yeo Yang Poh confirmed that the Bar Council will be discussing this ad-hoc committee issue in tomorrow’s council meeting.
“We have no problems with the motions that were passed. What we are doing next is to set up the ad-hoc committee and we have also received their request to speak to the government on putting the bill on hold,” when contacted.
2012 Hotel Corporate Rates Attending seminars? Going for a holiday? Click on the link above to check out the list of hotel corporate rates for Members of the Bar, which is updated regularly.
Talk on Intellectual Property Law (10 Feb 2012) Organised by the Selangor Bar Committee, the talk on “Intellectual Property Law” will take place at 5:00 pm, at the Selangor Bar Committee Auditorium, on 10 Feb 2012 (Friday). The talk will feature Bahari Yeow Tien Hong. Click on the link above for more details.
Seminar on the Fundamentals of Bankruptcy Proceedings (21 Feb 2012) Organised by the Kuala Lumpur Bar Professional Development Committee, the seminar on “The Fundamentals of Bankruptcy Proceedings”, featuring Sanjeev Kumar Rasiah, will take place at 3:00 pm, at the Kuala Lumpur Bar Auditorium, on 21 Feb 2012 (Tuesday). Click on the link above for more details.
Seminar on the Fundamentals of Conveyancing (24 Feb 2012) Organised by the Kuala Lumpur Bar Professional Development Committee, this seminar featuring Jeremiah R Gurusamy will take place at 3:00 pm, at the Kuala Lumpur Bar Auditorium, on 24 Feb 2012 (Friday). Click on the link above for more details.
Mediation Skills Training Course (29 Feb to 4 Mar 2012) Organised by Bar Council, the Mediation Skills Training Course will take place at 8:30 am to 5:30 pm, at Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium, Bar Council, on 29 Feb to 4 Mar 2012 (Wednesday to Sunday). Deadline for registration and payment is 17 Feb 2012 (Friday). Click on the link above for more details.
Talk on “Land Fraud: An Australian Perspective” (13 Mar 2012) Organised by IGIL, GSGSG and UUM COLGIS, this free talk featuring Quintin George Rozario of Delta Law, Brisbane, Australia, will take place at 9:00 am, at Dewan Seminar A, Pusat Konvensyen, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kedah, on 13 Mar 2012 (Tuesday). To RSVP, contact Mr Abutt (04-928 4397; abutt@uum.edu.my).
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Circular No 021/2012: Application to State Authority for Consent to Transfer Properties
