Article contributed by Vanimalar Money Selvam, Officer, National Young Lawyers Committee; and photos by Satha Selvan Subramaniam, Senior Administrative Assistant, Bar Council
Representatives from the American Council Young Political Leaders (“ACYPL”) paid a courtesy visit to the Bar Council on 25 Aug 2015 (Tuesday). The meeting, which was chaired by Syahredzan Johan, Co–Chairperson of Bar Council National Young Lawyers Committee (“NYLC”), was initiated to learn and understand the role of the Malaysian Bar (“MB”). Ida Daniella Zulkifli, Co–Chairperson of NYLC and Adriene Leong, Special Officer to the President of the MB attended the meeting on behalf of the Bar Council.
Among the representatives of ACYPL that were present at the meeting are as follows:
(1) Sheila Bush, Executive Director, Wyoming Medical Society (WY), Republican;
(2) Valerie Dowling, Director of Women’s Programs, Republican National Committee (DC), Republican;
(3) Matthew Haney, Vice–President, San Francisco Unified School District (CA), Democrat;
(4) Pete Nemeth, Vice–President, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Comcast Cable (IN), Democrat;
(5) Kate Sheerin, Public Policy and Government Affairs Analyst, Google, Inc (DC), Democrat;
(6) The Honorable Jenni Tan, Member, West Linn City Council (OR), Democrat; and
(7) Chris Hosek, Principal, Texas Star Alliance (TX), Republican.
Syahredzan Johan welcomed the delegates and gave a brief background of the MB, which included the objectives of the Bar, the role of the Bar Council Secretariat, the purpose of the committees set up under the Bar Council, the status of the Continuing Professional Development (“CPD”) programme and the role of the Council members.
A few topics were discussed during the meeting such as the mass graves found near the Thai border earlier this year, the #MansuhAktaHasutan campaign as well as police misconduct.
In his conclusion, Syahredzan Johan emphasised that MB is an independent body who would act for justice without fear or favour. He added that although Malaysia has many issues — such as those related to the rule of law and various human rights matters — to grapple with, he believes these are challenges that the country must face in order to progress.
The meeting ended with an exchange of souvenirs between the two parties.