The Malaysian Bar - Speech by Zainuritha-Alfa bt Abu Hassan, Chairman of the Negeri Sembilan Bar Committee, at the Negeri Sembilan Bar’s 46th Annual Dinner and Dance (24 Sept 2011)

Speech by Zainuritha-Alfa bt Abu Hassan, Chairman of the Negeri Sembilan Bar Committee, at the Negeri Sembilan Bar’s 46th Annual Dinner and Dance (24 Sept 2011)

Wednesday, 28 September 2011 02:40pm

Assalamualaikum and a very good evening.

On behalf of the Negeri Sembilan Bar Committee, it is my pleasure to welcome Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Yang Dipertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus Tuanku Muhriz Ibni Al-Marhum Tuanku Munawir and Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Tunku Ampuan Besar Negeri Sembilan Tuanku Aishah Rohani Binti Al-Marhum Tengku Besar Mahmud, Yang Arif Dato’ Rosnani Binti Saub, our resident High Court Judge in Seremban, Mr Lim Chee Wee, President of the Malaysian Bar, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen to this year’s Negeri Sembilan Bar’s annual dinner and dance.

This Annual Dinner and Dance has become a tradition in the social calendar of the Negeri Sembilan Bar. A unique and touching feature of our Bar’s Annual Dinner and Dance is that we are the only Bar with royal patronage and the gracious presence of their Royal Highnesses, for which we are extremely grateful and touched. THANK YOU TUANKU. We humbly wish that our event will continue to receive the patronage of the Royal Highnesses.

The Negeri Sembilan Bar has been in existence for almost half a century. Since its existence, the Bar is a significant defender of rights and liberties for its members and the public at large. The Bar has always been above politics, and non-partisan. As a practitioner of law, we are duty bound to protect the sanctity of law, upholding the rule of law and independence of the judicial system.

The year 2011 has unveiled an interesting chain of events.

During the past week, there has been so much excitement over our Prime Minister’s Malaysia Day speech announcing the abolition of the draconian law embodied in the Internal Security Act (“ISA”) and other oppressive and outdated legislation. We hope that something positive will come from these promises and that these laws will be changed, and the changes will be substantial and meaningful. If it does happen, let us not forget that it happened because the people wanted it to happen. We hope that the Prime Minister would take into account the memoranda and resolution adopted by the Malaysian Bar, from public at large and civil society when reviewing the laws.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As we know, recently on 12 September 2011, there was a change of leadership in our Judiciary. It marked the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. Negeri Sembilan Bar would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the appointment of:

YAA Tan Sri Arifin Bin Zakaria as Chief Justice of the Federal Court;
YAA Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Md Raus Bin Sharif as the President of the Court of Appeal; and
YAA Tan Sri Dato’ Zulkefli Bin Ahmad Makinudin as Chief Judge of Malaya.

We sincerely hope that with the appointment of Yang Amat Arif-Yang Amat Arif will further bring the judiciary to a better future.

We in Negeri Sembilan Bar have an excellent working relationship with the Negeri Sembilan Judiciary. We are the pioneers to have a Joint Working Committee (“JWC”) with the judiciary. During the JWC meeting, we manage to sort out issues and problems faced by both sides. From the JWC meeting we can see results, wherein the number of cases has been reduced substantially. We wish the JWC will continue so that issues can be discussed and resolved immediately. I wish to put on record our sincere appreciation to the Negeri Sembilan judges and the officers for their role and commitment in JWC.

Since the courts are now dealing or hearing mostly recent cases of 2009 and 2010, I therefore call upon the judiciary to bring down the highway speed limit of 110 km per hour in disposing cases to the Federal road speed limit of 90km per hour. We further hope that disposal of cases are based on quality instead of quantity.

Since we are having a good working relationship with the Negeri Sembilan Judiciary, I hope to extend the same cordial relationship with the State Legal Advisor office.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Our Federal Constitution guarantees the right to legal representation. But it is meaningless if one is unable to access legal representation due to insufficient funds. We are therefore heartened by the establishment of a national legal aid foundation, known as Yayasan Bantuan Guaman Kebangsaan (“YBGK”) which was launched on 25 February 2011 by our Prime Minister. It is a collaborative effort involving the Government and the Malaysian Bar. YBGK is an independent body that will fund the provision of legal aid, enhance services for lawyers to represent those needing legal representation, and initiate and carry out educational programmes designed to promote awareness amongst members of the public. Members are therefore encouraged to participate, as training will be provided by Bar Council and YBGK.

On part of Negeri Sembilan Bar Committee, we will continue to assist our members in solving problems faced in our practice. Recently we managed to persuade the State Government to withdraw their previous directive on rejecting client’s account cheques issued by lawyers. We also had a meeting with officials from Negeri Sembilan Land Office to discuss how to simplify and regulate a uniform system in land transactions.

I call upon members of the Negeri Sembilan Bar to continue and give their support to organise festival functions that we used to have such as Jamuan Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali and Christmas. Let it be an occasion where members can meet and renew friendships among the legal fraternity.

I would also like to call upon young lawyers to participate in many programmes initiated by Negeri Sembilan Bar. As the legal profession continues to evolve, young lawyers are the future of the Bar.

I’m nearing the end of my term as chairlady of Negeri Sembilan Bar Committee. It is an honour to be given the opportunity to serve the members of the Negeri Sembilan Bar in my capacity as the chairlady. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues and friends at Negeri Sembilan Bar from whom I have learned and benefited in the past two years of my tenure.

I wish to pay special acknowledgement and thanks to both MCs, the floor manager Mr Sashi, the Sub-Committees and pupils involved in organising tonight’s event.

My special thanks also go to our secretary Mr V Veeramalai and Puan Noraini for their help and efforts to make this event a successful one.

Please allow me to extend my gratitude to the members of the Bar Committee who have sacrificed their time and energy for Negeri Sembilan Bar without any financial gain.

Ladies and gentlemen, with that I end my speech, thank you and have a wonderful night.

AMPUN TUANKU.

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