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National Legal Aid Committee 2010/2011 Interim Report

Wednesday, 24 November 2010 09:18am

The National Legal Aid Committee (“NLAC”) is chaired by Mureli Navaratnam and assisted by Sulaiman Abdullah as the Deputy Chairperson for the 2010/2011 term.

There are 22 members in NLAC, including one non-Bar member. Out of this total, 17 are outstation members. The Chairperson of each of the state-level Bar Council Legal Aid Centre (“LAC”) is a de facto member of NLAC. There are also state representatives who attend the NLAC meetings on occasions when the state LAC Chairpersons are unable to attend.

NLAC’s objectives are to:

(1)    provide legal aid to, and increase legal awareness among, the public in accordance with section 42(1)(h) of the Legal Profession Act 1976;
(2)    supervise the operation and management of LACs; and
(3)    lobby the government on matters pertaining to equal access to justice and legal aid issues, and promote the concept that legal aid is a fundamental human right.

The two major events for NLAC in the 2010/2011 term have been:

(1) National Law Awareness Week (“NLAW”), which took place in the week of 11 to 16 Oct 2010; and
(2) A commemorative dinner to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the first LAC, which was held on 19 Nov 2010 at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Penang.

The national-level launch for NLAW was held on 11 Oct 2010 in the foyer of SP Plaza, Sungai Petani, Kedah. The event was officiated by Rozainah bt Dato’ Paduka Haji Radzi, Yang Di Pertua Majlis Perbandaran Sungai Petani. On the same occasion, the Kedah/Perlis Legal Aid Centre launched its new Sungai Petani office located in the SP Plaza.

The closing event for NLAW took place on 23 Oct 2010 at Brickfields College Asia in Kuala Lumpur, where the Bar Council LAC (Kuala Lumpur) (“BCLACKL”) launched Project Outreach. Project Outreach is, in a nutshell, a legal aid clinic, which offers legal advice to the public every Sunday from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, run by BCLACKL at the college.

As the first state to set up a Bar Council LAC, back in 1980, Penang was aptly chosen to host the 30th anniversary dinner. At its inception, the centre was known as the Penang Legal Advisory Centre and was housed in a dilapidated wooden shack beside a street in Bayan Lepas. Today, there are two state-level Bar Council LACs in Penang, located at Georgetown and Butterworth. In 2009, the LACs provided services to 1,195 clients.

NLAC will organise the next National Legal Aid Conference in mid-2011, and is considering Langkawi, Kedah, as the conference location. The previous Conference was held in December 2007 in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan.

At present, there are 15 Bar Council LACs in Peninsular Malaysia, with at least one centre in each state. In 2009, the 15 centres rendered legal aid services to over 27,500 clients, comprising those who only received free legal advice, as well as those who received both legal advice and legal representation in courts.

Mureli Navaratnam
Chairperson
National Legal Aid Centre

Dated 22 Nov 2010

The Executive Officer for the NLAC is Adilah Ariffin and she can be contacted by telephone at 03-2034 2071, 03-2031 3003 ext 160 or by email at adilah@malaysianbar.org.my.

(1)    Mureli Navaratnam (Chairperson)
(2)    Sulaiman Abdullah (Deputy Chairperson)

Members:

(3)    Aaron Abraham
(4)    Abdul Fareed b Abdul Gafoor
(5)    Amalia bt Mohamad Said
(6)    Asha Pereira
(7)    Cecil Rajendra
(8)    Domnic Selvam s/o Gnanapragasam
(9)    Edwin Seibel s/o Vethakan
(10)    Fatima bt Tahir
(11)    Jason Kay Kit Leon
(12)    Komathi d/o Arunasalam
(13)    Krishman s/o Ramiah
(14)    Lim Chi Chau
(15)    Mohd Nor Hisam b Hussain
(16)    Mohd Zamri b Md Jail
(17)    Murshidah bt Mustafa
(18)    Navinder Kaur Jessy
(19)    Ravinder Singh Dhalliwal
(20)    Stephanie Bastian
(21)    Victor Paul s/o Dorairaj
(22)    Yvonne Young Ai Peng

Officer-in-charge: Adilah Ariffin

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