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Delegates and friends,

I see and hear two themes emerging from the discussions in this Convention.

Firstly, fear - fear for ourselves, fear for the profession and fear of the future. This is not unique to our Bar, and is not insurmountable. It is also experienced by young lawyers in other jurisdictions.

The answers are found in the topics discussed at this Convention: enhancing and continuing our professional development, economical and intelligent deployment of tools of technology and finding our niche in the profession. I am sure all of us have discovered some ways to deal with these fears, and have been sufficiently empowered.

Secondly, I see and hear hope. There are many of you who have the ability to develop to become ‘towering young lawyers’, or are already so. Many of you will also nurture into outstanding and respectable lawyers, and future leaders of the Bar who will stand out in this crowded profession. This, I am quite sure.

May I reiterate that the Malaysian Bar is an extremely robust organisation which itself stands out among the various professional organisations in our society. There is definitely a place for anyone who sincerely seeks to be part of the profession, and who is prepared to uphold the Bar’s roles and objects imbued in statute.

Nevertheless, in any organisation, especially one with more than 12,000 members, there will be differences in views and approaches as to that which is best for the Bar. Generally, we have those who are conservative, those who are liberal and those who are ambivalent.

Believing and adhering to well-established principles of free speech and expression, it is no surprise that strong statements are frequently made during our general meetings, on the Bar website and in various public platforms. This is not something we should be troubled by; rather, it is something we should cherish. The struggle will always be to continue our discourses with decorum and respect, and reach our collective decisions based on rational and logical grounds. Sectarian arguments whether based on gender, ethnicity or religion should have little place in the Bar. I am sure that as the Bar now faces the challenge of globalisation and specifically, liberalisation of the profession, it will become evident that we cannot move forward divided.

Last but not least, I am glad that the ‘Statement of the 3rd Young Lawyers Convention’ was today adopted by consensus. It represents your aspirations. It will be tabled before the Bar Council, and I am confident that the proposals will be discussed, and where appropriate, worked on towards fruition. Encouragingly, many of the recommendations made at the 1st Convention in Cherating (2003) and at the 2nd Convention in Pangkor (2005) are already in place. This again highlights the beneficial value of the Convention which is now an entrenched part of the Bar’s historical annals.

We hope to work with many of you in the future. As a start, our ‘YL Personality’ and ‘tete-a-tete’ columns in collaboration with the Bar website requires your contributions in different ways, and we hope you will assist.

We are very glad to see so many of you at this Convention travelling from afar such as Kelantan, Trengganu and Pahang. Further, the participation of lawyers from Penang has been most refreshing.

I am sure all of us have learnt a great deal and together, we will work to continue efforts at progressively reforming ourselves and the Bar.

With this, I officially bring the Convention to a close.

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