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KUALA LUMPUR, Fri: In an immediate move after the Bar Council re-constituted its Committees on April 13, the National Young Lawyers Committee (NYLC) met for the first time this term. More than 30 members from around the country attended the meeting with many new faces.

The 3 Deputy Chairpersons for the 2006-07 term, Richard Wee Thiam Seng, Kenny Lai Choe Ken and Wong Fook Meng who were recently elected to their respective State Bar Committees did not seek re-election in order to make way for new young lawyers to assume leadership roles.

In a 4-cornered fight, the Deputy Chairpersons elected today were Dipendra Harshad Rai, Noreen Ahmad Ariff and Desmond Ho. They lead major thematic areas of work, and will each chair 3 meetings of the NYLC this term.

• The 2nd segment of the NLYC’s flagship event, “Siri Pemikiran Kritis” which follows on the back of the successful 1st segment will again be held as a series of 4 programmes fixed for June 6, 13, 20 and 27, 2007 at the Bar Council Auditorium. The theme of this segment is “Re-thinking Malaysia in Commemoration of 50 years of Independence”. Areas to be covered include planning law, corruption, accountability, civil society perspectives, the national agenda and new visions for the country. The series will again be co-organised with Youth 4 Change (Y4C).

• The 2nd Malaysian Bar Closed-Door Dialogue on Issues Facing a Multi-Racial Society has been planned for July 27 at the Bar Council Auditorium. Feedback after the 1st Dialogue on March 2 was positive leading to the decision to have this follow-up session. The format of the Dialogue will be re-considered and tweaked to make the Dialogue more interactive and productive. The Human Rights Committee and the Syariah Law Committee will again be approached to co-organise the same.

• The Consensus Document culled from the highly-talked about 1st Young Malaysians Roundtable Discussion on National Unity and Development in Malaysia jointly organised with the Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) and officiated by the Crown Prince of Perak on April 3 is to be crystallised for implementation. It will be part of a joint NYLC-CPPS initiative titled “Projek Menjana Integrasi Nasional Dalam Aspirasi Masyarakat Muda (MINDA MUDA)”. The Consensus Document has been translated into Bahasa Malaysia, and forwarded to all Members of Parliament. On April 24, NYLC and CPPS will be meeting Datuk Dr. Maximus Ongkili, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department to present the Document officially in his capacity as Head of the Parliamentary Select Committee on National Unity and National Integration and Head of the National Unity and Social Development Department. Work is underway using the parameters of the Consensus Document to conduct a quantitative survey on the views of young Malaysians in the country on nation-building issues and race relations. A report will be thereafter published with findings of the same.

• The Young Lawyers Convention will be making a comeback after a short hiatus, and is planned to be held in early 2008. Details are being worked out.

• The much-awaited Working Conditions Survey results is being compiled to be released at the end of April, and a Report summarising the NYLC’s findings will be published at the end of May.

• The Continuing Professional Development Unit of the NYLC will be discussing the proposed Professional Standards Course which is due to revamp the present Ethics Lectures. A “Walk-in Clinic” for fresh graduates and pupils is also being planned.

• The proposed plan to establish an exchange programme with the Law Society of Singapore’s Young Lawyers Committee for the benefit of all members of the Bar will be re-visited.

• The YL Personality Interviews published every fortnight is to continue. In addition, interviews of older members of the Bar to gain insights into the development of the profession and garner lessons for younger lawyers is set to commence on an ad hoc basis.

Please make a note in your diaries in relation to the above.

With numerous proposals from organisations and individuals, the Committee unfortunately had to reject two requests inviting us to organise certain events, citing the general sentiment of the Committee that ‘there is too much on our plate at present’.

Concern was also raised at the meeting about the surprise omission of Young Lawyers Committees (YLC) in at least 2 State Bars despite a resolution by the NYLC (which was adopted by the Bar Council post-repeal of section 46A(1)(a) Legal Profession Act) reaffirming the continued existence of the YLC structure in all States and at national level. More details are being sought on this for further consideration.

The meeting ended with the NYLC reaffirming efforts to step up collections for the Solomon Islands Earthquake & Tsunami Fund recently launched, and which has received a dismal sum to-date. The deadline is 9 May 2007, and members are strongly urged to contribute as much as possible! Details on how one may contribute are found here:

http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_details/gid,1079/

This term serves to be another promising year!

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