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.