Mengadap ke Bawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Yang di–Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan, Tuanku Muhriz ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir,
Duli Yang Maha Mulia Tunku Ampuan Besar Negeri Sembilan, Tuanku Aishah Rohani binti Almarhum Tengku Besar Mahmud.
Ampun Tuanku beribu–ribu ampun, sembah patek mohon diampun.
Terlebih dahulu patek bagi pihak Majlis Peguam ingin merafak sembah menjunjung kasih yang tidak terhingga, di atas perkenan Duli Tuanku berdua, mencemar duli berangkat ke Kuliah Peringatan Raja Aziz Addruse Yang Ke–3 pada petang ini. Patek dan para hadirin sekalian sesungguhnya merasa amat bangga di atas keberangkatan Duli Tuanku berdua di majlis ini.
Keberangkatan Duli Tuanku berdua ke majlis ini memberi makna yang besar kepada pihak penganjur dan para hadirin sekalian.
Ampun Tuanku.
Patek juga memohon perkenan Kebawah Duli Tuanku untuk mengalu–alukan kehadiran Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Zain Al–‘Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz.
Patek dengan segala hormat dan takzimnya memohon izin, limpah perkenan Duli Tuanku untuk meneruskan ucapan kepada barisan tetamu yang hadir dalam Bahasa Inggeris.
Yang Amat Arif Tun Arifin Zakaria, Chief Justice of Malaysia;
The Honourable Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma, Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong;
Yang Amat Arif Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Richard Malanjum, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak;
Judges of the Federal Court, Court of Appeal and High Court;
Honourable Senators and Members of Parliament;
Mrs Catherine Addruse;
Brendan Navin Siva, Chairperson of the IMLC 2014 Organising Committee;
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and High Commissioners;
Distinguished Guests;
Members of the Bar; and
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Welcome to the 3rd Raja Aziz Addruse Memorial Lecture, instituted in memory of Raja Aziz Addruse, President of the Malaysian Bar thrice over: 1976–1978, 1988–1989 and 1992–1993; and a member of the Bar Council for 21 years.
In introducing our distinguished speaker for the 3rd Raja Aziz Addruse Memorial Lecture, Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Zain Al–‘Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz, please also permit me to say a few words about the late Raja Aziz Addruse and this Memorial Lecture series.
Ungku, as most of us fondly and respectfully called him, was born in Chemor, Perak on 10 Feb 1936. He received his secondary school education at Anderson, Ipoh and read law at the University of Bristol. He was called to the English Bar by The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn in 1960.
Upon his return to Malaya the same year, he joined the Federal Judicial and Legal Services as a deputy public prosecutor, and later, as a deputy parliamentary draftsman.
Ungku subsequently left public office to join our ranks at the Malaysian Bar and to take up the robes of an advocate and solicitor. He was admitted and enrolled on 8 Jan 1966, and entered private practice.
In his long and distinguished career at the Bar, Ungku was a firm advocate for the Rule of Law, a staunch supporter of the Federal Constitution and a foremost defender of human rights, fearlessly speaking out and acting against abuse and injustice.
He was guided in his commitment and values by a firm belief in the objects and duties of the Malaysian Bar, and which objects are to be observed and carried out by us as individual Members of the Bar. Ungku brought true meaning to the statutory duty of the Bar, that is, “to uphold the cause of justice without regard to its own interests or that of its members, uninfluenced by fear or favour.”
It may interest Members of the Bar to know that the oft–cited motto of the Bar “without fear or favour” first appeared in the Legal Profession Act 1976; it was not present in its immediate predecessor legislation, the Advocates Ordinance 1947. So where did this phrase come from?
The phrase “without fear or favour” was first used in the October 1969 editorial piece of Insaf (a Bar Council periodical) of which Raja Aziz Addruse was its editor. The phrase was used in the context of the Bar’s opposition to proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution and the provisions in the Emergency Ordinance 1969 which would remove fundamental rights of an arrested or accused person.
At that time, there was also a committee of the Bar Council looking to amend the legislation governing the Bar Council and lawyers. Ungku was a member of that committee, whose work eventually led to the Legal Profession Act 1976 being enacted in place of the Advocates Ordinance of 1947. This phrase was introduced for the first time as section 42(1)(a) of the Act. It would appear that this principle and object of the Malaysian Bar finding force in statute was an expression of professional self–realisation and determination. The same phrase subsequently found its way into the Universal Declaration on the Independence of Justice, known as the Montreal Declaration 1983.
Many a young lawyer had the good fortune of “junioring” Ungku in his cases and thus receiving the benefit of his guidance. Ungku took on a fair number of public interest cases, and as is the nature of such cases he met with little success. I recall asking Ungku one evening after we had been in court defending Marina Yusoff against a sedition charge, as to whether he was ever discouraged and how he found the energy to keep carrying on. He said that his duty was to step up to the door, and keep knocking on it in the hope that it would someday open, and if it did not, then it was his duty to ensure that there would be others stepping up after him, when he became tired, to keep knocking on that door.
The Malaysian Bar has been blessed by his leadership and is most privileged to have been associated with him. He was the very best among us.
Ungku passed away on 12 July 2011. Ungku would have been proud that in October 2012, the Malaysian Bar was recognised and honoured by the United Nations Malaysia when the Bar was conferred with the United Nations Malaysia Organization of the Year Award 2012, in recognition of the Bar’s work. I quote from the citation by the United Nations, as follows:
Throughout its 66–year existence, the Malaysian Bar has admirably fulfilled its role as guardian of the rule of law, and defender of human rights and the public interest in Malaysia. The Malaysian public has come to look to the Malaysian Bar for guidance on what the law is, what the law should be, and what the law must never be...One aspect of the Malaysian Bar’s work that sets it distinctively apart from many other law associations is its robust defence of democracy and human rights — particularly civil and political rights — and its intolerance of discrimination...Undeterred by threats, and allegations of political bias, the Malaysian Bar has continuously and unhesitatingly taken a stand in favour of human rights, fundamental freedoms and civil liberties, greater constitutionalism, access to justice, and an independent Bench and Bar...
Ladies and gentlemen,
To honour one of our most respected and distinguished Presidents, the Malaysian Bar instituted the Raja Aziz Addruse Memorial Lecture Series in collaboration with The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn Alumni Association of Malaysia on 29 Oct 2011.
Thereafter, it was decided that the Memorial Lecture would feature permanently as a plenary session of the biennial International Malaysia Law Conference (“IMLC”). It is intended that the Memorial Lecture series serve to remind, inspire and inculcate in us and future generations of Members of the Malaysian Bar the values, principles and courage that Ungku stood for and demonstrated.
In furtherance of this series, it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Zain Al–‘Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz to deliver the third lecture in the Raja Aziz Addruse Memorial Lecture Series.
Tunku ‘Abidin obtained a Bachelor of Science in Government and Sociology and holds a Masters of Science in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Tunku ‘Abidin has worked in the United Kingdom Houses of Parliament, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the KRA Group which is a public affairs consulting firm, and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Tunku ‘Abidin is the founding President of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, popularly referred to as IDEAS. It is Malaysia’s first think–tank dedicated to promoting market based solutions to public policy challenges.
Tunku ‘Abidin is also a prolific writer on current affairs and social issues, and maintained a regular column in The Sun news publication from 2008 to 2011, The Star and Sin Chew news publications between 2011 to 2012, and presently a column by the name “Conservatively Speaking Freely” in the Malay Mail, Borneo Post and Oriental Daily news publications. He also authoured a book for the Installation of the Ruler of Negeri Sembilan and led a project to revitalise the State Anthem.
Recently, Tunku ‘Abidin was selected as an Eisenhower Fellow and received the Rotary Young Integrity Award.
It gives me great pleasure to invite Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Zain Al–‘Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz to speak on his topic “Inspirations from Raja Aziz Addruse: Morality and the Rule of Law”.
Ampun Tuanku beribu–ribu ampun, sembah patek mohon diampun.
Sekian sahaja ucapan patek.
Akhir kata patek mewakili pihak Majlis Peguam ingin merafak sembah menjunjung kasih yang tidak terhingga, di atas perkenan, Duli Yang Maha Mulia Yang Dipertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan, Tuanku Muhriz ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir, Duli Yang Maha Mulia Tunku Ampuan Besar Negeri Sembilan, Tuanku Aishah Rohani binti Almarhum Tengku Besar Mahmud, mencemar duli berangkat ke Kuliah Peringatan Raja Aziz Addruse Yang Ke–3 pada petang ini.
Christopher Leong
President
Malaysian Bar
24 Sept 2014