The Honourable Tuan Tommy Thomas, Attorney General;
Vinayak Pradhan, Acting Director of the Asian International Arbitration Centre;
Datuk Dr. Abdul Raman Bin Haji Saad, Chairman of the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board;
Honourable Judges;
Ranbir Singh Sangha, President of the Advocates Association of Sarawak;
Brenndon Keith Soh, President of the Sabah Law Society;
Presidents and representatives of Bar Associations;
Past Presidents of the Malaysian Bar;
Your Excellencies High Commissioners and Ambassadors;
Deans and representatives of law faculties and law schools;
Sponsors and supporters of the Malaysian Bar’s Annual Dinner & Dance;
My esteemed brothers and sisters at the Bar;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen.
A very good evening to all of you. It is a pleasure to be among friends and see so many familiar faces here. I am so happy to be on this stage following in the tradition of the Presidents before me, to deliver my farewell address as the outgoing President of the Malaysian Bar.
Annual General Meeting
We had a most productive Annual General Meeting today at Wisma MCA, with 835 Members in attendance and, of the nine motions put forth for debate, five were carried.
As always, there were robust debates at the Annual General Meeting; and in the finest traditions of the Bar, we agreed to disagree, and Members left the meeting hall assured of our continuing commitment to uphold the rule of law, and preserve and protect the administration of justice.
Personal Reflections
I am delighted to be able, this year, to break the annual tradition of stating that it has been a challenging year for us at the Bar. What a difference the 14th General Election has made. How times have changed since 9 May 2018. It has been my privilege to have been the the President of the Malaysian Bar to straddle a change in the Federal Government of Malaysia.
Allow me to share with you some personal reflections of mine — some of the high points as well as low points.
One of the greatest challenges of my tenure as President was attempting to engage with the previous Government on various matters of concern, and being ignored or rebuffed. The Malaysian Bar’s legal challenge to the unconstitutional appointments of the then–Chief Justice and the then–President of the Court of Appeal as additional judges, and the extension of their tenures beyond the constitutionally prescribed age limit; and the Government’s proposed amendments to the Legal Profession Act 1976 that would have severely curtailed the independence of the Malaysian Bar.
If the previous Government had won the 14th General Election and its unbroken rule had continued, the proposed amendments would have materialised, and the proud and noble institution that is the Malaysian Bar would have been severely compromised. I dreaded being known as the President who could not repel this assault to our independence. Those were difficult, troubled, trying times but through it all, the Malaysian Bar remained unbowed and persisted in asserting the independence we hold so dear. As the writer and activist James Baldwin said, “We are capable of bearing a great burden, once we discover that the burden is reality and arrive where reality is.”
Over the past two years as President, in my eight years in total as an Office Bearer, and indeed in my 16 years as a Bar Council member, and 28 years total as a practising advocate and solicitor, I have borne witness to how the Malaysian Bar remains unfazed and unbending in our commitment to continue performing our statutory duties as mandated by section 42(1) of the Legal Profession Act 1976, as we always have. We remain firm and unwavering in our fervour to uphold the cause of justice without fear or favour. The goodness, the resilience, and the enduring hope exhibited by the Malaysian Bar — no matter the trial or struggle — have always been a source of inspiration to me.
One of the high points of my Presidency was our submission to the Honourable Attorney General of our proposal for a holistic and comprehensive revamp of the Legal Profession Act 1976, on 9 January 2019. That was extremely fulfilling. The Malaysian Bar, via our Committee on Reform to the Legal Sector, worked round–the–clock to make our proposal a reality, and, to this end, I extend my deep appreciation to the Committee and our Secretariat staff.
The proposed new legislation to govern the legal profession seeks to account for developing trends and technological innovation in the legal profession. It also seeks to introduce provisions with the aim of us being a fully self–governing Bar, in accordance with Principle 24 of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, and Clause 3.25 of the Universal Declaration of the Independence of Justice (the Montreal Declaration).
The Bar Council will continue to engage with the Attorney General’s Chambers in respect of the proposed new Legal Profession Act 1976, and we hope that it will soon be a reality. At this juncture, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Honourable Attorney General for keeping his doors open to the Malaysian Bar, and working in consultation with us.
Thanks and Appreciation
The tremendous volume of work that the Malaysian Bar and the Bar Council performs in the discharge of our statutory functions under the Legal Profession Act 1976 is achievable only because of the industry and selfless service of a great many persons.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the staff of the Bar Council Secretariat; Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board; and Bar Council Legal Aid Centres for the exemplary work that they do, much of which is behind the scenes. It is they who enable our daily operations and regulatory work to run smoothly and with ease.
I would also like to thank Datuk Dr. Abdul Raman Bin Haji Saad, the Chairman of the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board, and all board members for their tireless commitment to honouring and upholding the standards of our legal profession.
I also wish to extend my deep gratitude to all Chairpersons, Deputy Chairpersons and members of the committees of the Bar Council, for their unstinting contribution of valuable time in noble service to the Bar.
To my fellow members of the Bar Council, the many hours that we have spent together in in–depth debate, rigorous deliberation and delightful banter have been a great pleasure. I am proud to stand with you as brothers and sisters in the Malaysian Bar.
I wish to express my deep appreciation to the Organising Committee of tonight’s event, ably chaired by Roger Chan Weng Keng, assisted by Anne Andrew and other staff members of the Bar Council Secretariat, for putting together a delightful evening — the highlight of our annual social calendar.
I would also like to take this opportunity to especially thank our very capable Chief Executive Officer, Rajen Devaraj; the Management Team consisting of Ahmad Razif Abdul Wahab, Cheryl Foo Chooi Quan, Chin Oy Sim, Ezane Mansor Obaid, Kenneth Ang Joo How, Lily Aw, Gayathri Chidambara Iyer, Olivia Oh Li Ann, Saliha Hassan, Santhi Latha, and Vilashini Vijayan; and Bar Council Secretariat staff members Adriene Leong, Anneliz George, Boo Sha–Lyn and Stella Chai. All of them have been of great assistance to me in carrying out my duties. Regrettably, time does not permit me to name every single staff of the Bar Council Secretariat here, but all of them played very important roles and I sincerely thank them.
I thank all the wonderful sponsors of tonight’s event, especially our gold sponsor LexisNexis; and silver sponsors, BMW, Jardine Lloyd Thompson and the College of Law.
I must also thank my wife, Lilian George, for having been a pillar of support to me. When I first took office as President, my children — Shahael and Sophia — were very young, aged 3 and 5. They are now 5 and 7. The amount of time I spent with them has been limited due to the demands of holding office. Many a day, I would leave for work in the wee hours of the morning before my kids would be awake, and would not return home until late in the night when they were already asleep. There were periods of time when I would not see them for several days. So much so that, if you were to ask my son what my work is, he would tell you, “Papa works as the President!” Hopefully, soon he will realise that I am actually a lawyer.
It is my solemn promise to myself, my wife and most especially to my children, that I will make up for that lost time from now on. For us to spend much time making many happy memories together.
It has been extremely humbling for me to follow in the line of past Presidents who led the Malaysian Bar. I would not consider myself one to stand in their class. That I have endured is only because I stood on the shoulders of the giants that they are.
Call to Members
Members of the Malaysian Bar,
Our work is never done. We cannot take the rule of law and the administration of justice for granted. It falls on each of us to be a guardian of those ideals that are so precious to us. The Malaysian Bar will forever be vigilant, and for this I am delighted to pass on the torch to the new Office Bearers of the Malaysian Bar for the 2019/2020 term.
Office Bearers 2019/2020
It is my honour to introduce to you the new Office Bearers who were elected at our first Bar Council meeting this afternoon. I now invite the four Office Bearers to join me on stage in order to be recognised.
First, allow me to present to you the 33rd President of the Malaysian Bar, Dato' Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor. To assist the President, we have Roger Chan Weng Keng, who is our new Vice–President. Next, we have Salim Bashir as the Secretary; and last but not least, Surindar Singh is the Treasurer.
I congratulate them and am now glad to pass the baton to their very capable hands, in the knowledge that it has been my great honour to have had the privilege to represent — and to be a Member of — the Malaysian Bar, an organisation that I personally know to be the finest, most principled institution there is in Malaysia.
Conclusion
Tonight promises to be a great evening with delicious food, wonderful entertainment and plenty of drinks. As they say, hangovers will last only a day but the memories we make tonight will last a lifetime.
Thank you.
George Varughese
President
Malaysian Bar
16 March 2019
Please click here for a glimpse of the highlights of the Malaysian Bar’s Annual Dinner and Dance 2019, held at the Majestic Ballroom of the Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur, on 16 Mar 2019.