On 17 November 2025, the Government tabled the Legal Profession (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2025 (“November Bill”) for its first reading before the Dewan Rakyat. The November Bill was presented by YB M Kulasegaran, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform). The November Bill seeks to amend the Legal Profession Act 1976 (“LPA”) in relation to the Legal Profession Qualifying Board (“LPQB”).
Since its establishment in 1976, the LPQB has maintained its present form1 and has been chaired by the Attorney General. The LPQB also comprises 2 judges nominated by the Chief Justice, the Chairman of the Bar Council, and a senior academic from a Malaysian Faculty of Law, ie 5 Board members.
In recent times, the LPQB has come under fire from Members of Parliament2, with attention being drawn to the total funds in its accounts of approximately RM55.2 million3. A new section 9A of the LPA has already been passed into law by Parliament in May 2025 to mandate an annual audit by the Auditor General to address and to ensure financial transparency.
While the Malaysian Bar continues to welcome amendments that strengthen governance and transparency, we vehemently oppose other proposed amendments that allow for political or executive appointment, influence and interference in the composition of the Board.
The November Bill proposes to alter the LPQB’s composition by empowering the Minister for Law to appoint and remove a majority of LPQB Board members. Specifically, the November Bill proposes to give the Minister the power to appoint 8 out of 13 Board members; a new power that presently does not exist in the LPA. The November Bill also proposes to grant the Minister the power to remove 7 of the 13 Board members without assigning reasons. Such provisions gravely compromise professional independence by creating an LPQB heavily shaped by the executive, while reducing the Malaysian Bar and the judiciary to a minority of 3 out of the 13 Board positions.
The November Bill further proposes to allow the Minister to determine the pay and perks of members of the Board. We are gravely concerned that enlarging the Board from 5 to 13 members, with further powers to create an unlimited number of committees with consequential allowances and expenses, may result in a depletion of the LPQB’s funds and an increase in costs to law students, which is the opposite of what responsible reform requires.
If the leadership of the LPQB is entrusted to the Malaysian Bar, as it should have been all along, we pledge to reduce operational expenditure and fees chargeable to law students while ensuring governance that is transparent, professional and accountable.
The Malaysian Bar vehemently opposes the proposals in the November Bill proposing to create a new power of the Minister to appoint and remove Board members and believes that the LPQB should be led and chaired by the Malaysian Bar with balanced representation from the judiciary, qualified academics and the legal profession; free from political and executive appointment, involvement and interference.
The Malaysian Bar is disappointed with the Government’s proposals and with the limited number of consultation sessions held by the Government. Despite this, we had articulated our position and formally recorded our disagreement and concerns regarding the proposed amendments as far back as May 2025, when we submitted our detailed feedback to the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department; and again in early November. It is unfortunate that our feedback and concerns have been disregarded.
The Hon Dr Lloyd Barnett, OJ, the former President of the Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations4 warned that “a legal profession which is controlled or manipulated or intimidated by politicians cannot effectively carry out its duty of sustaining the independence of the administration of justice. As a corollary, despotic government usually commences with the suppression of the legal profession”5.
The Malaysian Bar calls upon the Government, YB Dato’ Sri Azalina bt Othman Said, the Honourable Minister and YB M Kulasegaran, the Honourable Deputy Minister, as members of the legal fraternity who are looked up to by their peers, for responsible leadership and to heed this principle.
While the Malaysian Bar is in favour of positive reforms to enhance the LPQB, we strongly oppose the political and executive encroachment proposed under the November Bill and the looming increase in costs that the November Bill portends.
Anand Raj
Vice-President
Malaysian Bar
20 November 2025
1 Legal Profession (Amendment) Act 1983 (A567).
2 “33 years of missing data: Kulasegaran demands probe into Legal Profession Qualifying Board’s finances”, Scoop, 10 July 2024; “Bill to allow audits of Legal Profession Qualifying Board’s accounts coming soon: Kula”, Scoop, 12 November 2024; “LPQB to be audited once Act gazetted, says Deputy Law Minister”, The Star, 27 February 2025; “Kulasegaran: I’ll get legal board to explain in writing over RM500,000 UK trip”, New Straits Times, 8 October 2025; “LPQB to be Transformed into Body Corporate under New Policy Measures”, Bernama, 9 October 2025.
3 Parliamentary Debates, Special Chamber, 29 October 2024, pg 14.
4 At a seminar convened by the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers International Commission of Jurists in 1988.