©Malay Mail (Used by permission)
by BOO SU–LYN
KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong has told proponents of an alternative Bar Council to get ready for “the most brutal fight” by the professional legal body to safeguard its independence.
Leong said the proposal for an alternative to the Malaysian Bar, which represents lawyers in peninsular Malaysia and has some 16,000 members, will greatly harm the administration of justice, the legal profession and the country’s reputation.
“They will have a fight on their hands and we would defend the Malaysian Bar vociferously and mightily; without fear or favour,” Leong told Malay Mail Online in an interview yesterday.
“Seeking to destroy a strong and independent Bar because of its diversity and robustness is short–sighted...we will not stand quietly by and let this happen.
“Be prepared not only for local and international condemnation, but the most brutal fight by the Malaysian Bar for our independence,” the Malaysian Bar president added.
Leong said those who are seeking the formation of a second legal body are merely trying to get together lawyers of one view, and are refusing to accept the diversity of opinions or the majority view in the Bar.
“There is no point in having a Bar which consists of ‘yes’ people or who have homogeneity of thought. What is the point of setting up multiple Bars each consisting only members who agree with each other?” he questioned.
“This is not independence and will not garner domestic and international confidence and respect. People who want or demand for an alternative Bar do so because they are not willing or able to accept or deal with diversity and differences,” the Bar Council chief added.
Critics have long pushed for an alternative legal body and accused the Bar Council of being pro–opposition, even before Leong assumed presidency of the Malaysian Bar in 2013.
Attacks against Leong and the Bar Council, however, intensified in recent weeks after he questioned the prosecution of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was convicted of sodomy and sentenced by the Federal Court on February 10 to five years’ jail.
In an interview with Umno–owned daily Utusan Malaysia last Sunday, Malaysian Volunteer Lawyers Association (SukaGuam) accused the Bar Council of being part of “anti–establishment politics” and proposed an alternative body to run parallel to the council.
A group of 100 lawyers self–dubbed G100 recently demanded that Leong apologise and retract his February 11 statement that had highlighted “glaring anomalies” in Anwar’s prosecution, which he had said fuelled perception that Anwar’s case was political persecution rather than a criminal prosecution.
Leong told critics who claim that his views as the Malaysian Bar president do not represent the majority of members to attend the Bar’s annual general meeting on March 14.
“The president is guided by the majority view of the Malaysian Bar. I am bound by and will abide by what is determined by the Malaysian Bar,” he said.