The Bar Council will be holding a forum next week to
determine if specific laws are needed to protect the rights of senior citizens.
The forum, titled ‘Senior Citizens Protection: Is there a need to enact laws’,
will see about 200 participants, especially senior citizens, discussing and
debating if the rights of these section of the community can only be protected
through legislation.
“The forum will highlight the issues faced by elderly parents and senior
citizens, the ways and means of addressing their plight from legal and non-legal
perspective,” said the council’s chairperson of law reform committee M
Ramachelvam at a press conference today.
The forum will be held on March 10, at 8.30am at the Bar Council Secretariat in
Kuala Lumpur. Attendance is free and open to the public.
Ramachelvam said the aim of the forum was to create awareness among legal
practitioners and members of public that the elderly also play an equally
important role in their families and the society.
Among the speakers at the forum are S Chandra Mohan, from the Tribunal for the
Maintenance of Parents from Singapore, Dr Tengku Aizan Hamid, a gerontologist
from Universiti Putra Malaysia and Suhakam commissioner, Dr Raj Abdul Karim.
Ramachelvam added that the Bar Council will take the lead if the participants at
the forum felt that there was a need for a specific law to safeguard the senior
citizens.
No legal protection now
He said that the forum should not just be attended by senior citizens as the
issue concerned everyone.
He urged working adults, students and children of senior citizens to also attend
the forum to enable the Bar Council to have a diversity of viewpoints on the
topic of discussion.
Ramachelvam said the Bar Council will be drafting a model legislation, if
required, based on the United Nations Millennium Goals and Madrid International
Plan of Action.
He said legislations from other countries that have implemented laws to protect
senior citizens will also be referred.
He added that at present there is no specific law in Malaysia to protect the
rights of the senior citizens.
He said while there were some services available to take care the needs of the
senior citizens, these services were not based on any legislation, but on moral
responsibility which was not compulsory.
“For these service providers, it is a matter of charity, they can choose whether
they want to implement it or not, but with a law in place, they will have no
choice but to take care of the interests of the senior citizens,” he said.
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Talk on Summary Judgement (25 May 2012) Organised by the Selangor Bar Committee, this talk will take place at 5:00 pm, at the Selangor Bar Committee Auditorium, on 25 May 2012 (Friday). The talk will be conducted by Ramesh Supramanian. Click on the link above for more details.
Seminar on Tax Issues in Financial Transactions (25 May 2012) Organised by the Kuala Lumpur Bar Professional Development Committee, this seminar, featuring S Saravana Kumar, will take place at 3:00 pm, at the Kuala Lumpur Bar Auditorium, on 25 May 2012 (Friday). Click on the link above for more details.
Dialogue with Criminal Law Practitioners (26 May 2012) Organised by Bar Council, this dialogue will take place at 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, at the Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium, Bar Council, on 26 May 2012 (Saturday). Click on the link above for more details.
Conference on Competition Law (31 May 2012) Organised by Bar Council with the support of LexisNexis, this conference will take place at 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, at Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel, on 31 May 2012 (Thursday). For more details or to register, please contact Vilashini Vijayan (03-2050 2095; vila@malaysianbar.org.my). Click on the link above for more details.
Talk on What Clients Want (7 June 2012) Organised by the KL Bar Practitioners' Affairs Committee, the talk, presented by Ong Eu Jin, will take place at 5:00 pm, at the KL Bar Auditorium, on 7 June 2012 (Thursday). Click on the link above for more details.
4th LAWASIA Family Law Conference, Penang (13 and 14 July 2012) Supported by Penang Bar Committee and the Malaysian Bar, this conference, themed “The New Global Family: Emerging Trends and Challenges to Family Practice”, will take place at Traders Hotel, Penang, on 13 and 14 July 2012 (Friday and Saturday). Click on the link above for more details.
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