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A meeting between Bar Council and the American Council of Young Political Leaders (“ACYPL”) took place at 3:30 pm, at the main conference room of Bar Council (“BC”), on 19 July 2011 (Tuesday).

The ACYPL delegates who attended this meeting were Jay Chen, President of the Board of Hacienda La Puente Unified School District (California); the Honourable Alex Cornell du Houx, Member of Maine House of Representatives; the Honourable Matt Dollar, Member of Georgia House of Representatives; the Honourable Dan Lederman, Member of South Dakota Senate; Gwen Langley, Director of State Government Relations Cummins, Inc (Indiana); Kristie Stiles, Principal and Partner of Bedford Grove Consulting (New York); and Linda Rotunno, Chief Executive Officer of ACYPL (Washington, DC).  Representing BC at the meeting were Christopher Leong, Vice-President of the Malaysian Bar; Syahredzan Johan, Chairperson of the Constitutional Law Committee; Richard Wee, Chairperson of the National Young Lawyers Committee; Syamsuriatina Ishak, Chairperson of the Publications Committee; and HR Dipendra, member of the Human Rights Committee.

The meeting, which was chaired by Christopher Leong, kicked off with the visiting delegates giving a brief introduction on the role of ACYPL: a bipartisan, non-profit educational exchange organisation dedicated to fostering relations between the next generation of political leaders in the United States and their counterparts around the world.  ACYPL’s practical education programmes included international exchanges, foreign policy and democracy conferences, and election study programmes.  The ACYPL delegates also mentioned that they had just visited Indonesia for a political study tour before coming to Malaysia.  Christopher Leong then explained the role played by Bar Council in Malaysia.  Describing it as “a creature of statute” under the Legal Profession Act 1976, he shared that it was a professional body that regulated the practice and etiquette of lawyers in Peninsular Malaysia.

A topic discussed during the meeting was the Malaysian Prime Minister’s announcement, on 1 July 2011, of the possible establishment of a “Syariah Bar Council” for lawyers practising Syariah law in Malaysia.  Christopher Leong commented that Bar Council was in support of this because lawyers who practised under the Syariah law were not subjected to standard rules and disciplinary action.  The ACYPL delegates also enquired about the delineation of jurisdiction between the civil and Syariah courts.  BC representatives responded that there had been a conflict of jurisdiction between the two courts, especially in relation to religious conversion cases.  They also mentioned that BC had engaged, and would continue to engage, the Government on this matter.

Christopher Leong concluded the hour-long meeting by stating that although the Malaysian Bar had many issues – such as the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, freedom of expression and various human rights matters – to grapple with, he had faith that things would definitely change for the better.  He pointed out that although it would require great effort from all relevant parties, it was just a matter of time.