Bar Council: We must look beyond bread and butter issues

SHAH ALAM: The Bar Council has stressed that its duties cannot be limited to bread and butter issues as that itself is against the Legal Profession Act 1976 (LPA).

It's president Steven Thiru (pic) was responding to a statement by De-facto law minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said who had said that she hoped for the proposed amendments to LPA to address 'bread and butter issues' like legal exams and the ability of all legal practitioners to speak and read English.

During a briefing on Wednesday on the proposed amendments, Steven said the bar has other objectives like giving views on legislation and objectives about legal aid which are also societal rules.

"If you balance our 14 objectives, there are practices and professional issues as well as public roles. We play a mixed role.

"So if people come and tell us, 'look you’re the Bar, you should only concentrate on bread and butter issues, you should only concentrate on matters which concern your members and their practise', I’m sorry we have a problem," he said.

"Our objective requires us to look at both practise matters as well as rule of law, law reform, legal aid issues.

"That is what our constitution says and the LPA is our constitution," he said.

"For somebody to come and tell me 'look you’re being political, you should just concentrate about the welfare of your members, it doesn't make sense.

"My answer is yes, we should concentrate on the welfare of our members but if you look at the LPA, we are also required to go beyond that," he said.

On another note, he stressed that placing of government appointed 'spies' in the bar would not foster positive relationships with the government but instead worsen it.

During the briefing, he said the government is wrong to be under the impression that having appointed representatives in the bar would improve relationships.

"They claim that placing the two representatives will disabuse the notion that we are with the opposition.

"But actually it will spoil our relationship because at the end of the day we will know that we are being spied upon.

"Young lawyers who join us will no longer be able to feel that they can speak without fear or favour," he said.

In May, Steven Thiru had said the proposed amendments were unwarranted interference in the self-regulation and internal management of the Malaysian Bar.

Following this Azalina had said that statements by several parties claiming that the proposed amendments to the LPA is being done to allow the government to interfere in the Bar Council is inaccurate.

She had said that the amendments are still being drafted and it is unfair for outsiders to interfere by releasing statements on the matter.