KUALA LUMPUR, 16 Feb: Friday 16 February 2007 was an
interesting day at the Malaysian Bar Secretariat, which had a visit from an
Iraqi political delegation.
The delegation comprised 9 of the 30 members of the constitutional review
committee (composed of members of the Iraqi parliament, the council of
representatives).
The delegation was led by the Chairman of the committee,
Sheikh Humam Hamoudi, who is also the head of the foreign affairs committee in
parliament. Also part of the delegation is the Deputy Chair of the committee,
Dr. Fouad Massoum, who is also the head of the Kurdish Alliance parliament. The
rest of the members comprised a wide range of ethnic and religious groups in
Iraq, including Arab, Kurd, and Turkoman, Sunni, Shi'a and Christian.
They were here to learn about Malaysia's federal system and to benefit from Malaysia's experience of national unity.
The delegation was visiting Malaysia for a week starting from February 11 – 20.
Their objective was to review the constitution and offer amendments to the Iraqi
parliament by May 15.
During the meeting, the head of the delegation, Sheikh Humam
Hamoudi introduced the delegates and spoke briefly of each of their roles. Yeo
Yang Poh, the President of the Malaysian Bar, also gave a brief introduction of
the Bar and explained its role in society.
Also present were Bar Council members Vazeer Alam Mydin, Mah Weng Kwai, Lee Leng Guan and Edmund Bon and Deputy Executive Director, Kenneth Goh.
The delegates from Iraqi asked questions about the ethnic
quota system in Malaysia and the special status of Sabah and Sarawak. Other
issues that were discussed during the Q&A were:
• A lawyer who is a member of the Bar can practise in any state except
Sabah and Sarawak;
• Syariah law is separate and is determined from state to state, but most states have accepted uniform Syariah rules;
• Only a federal Bar Council for Peninsula Malaysia and each state has its own administrative State committee;
• There is no quota system at the Bar Council –– 36 members –– 2 from each state, 12 elected from all members, and the past president and vice–president; and
• Bar Council has no political role in Malaysia, but
shapes issues and defends rights and liberties.
The delegation was then treated to lunch and they left at 1:00 pm.