At the end of it all, the government remains the only solution to resolve the quorum issue of the Bar Council, which had over the years been responsible for turning meetings (or no meetings) of the Bar into "fiascos".

Really, as senior lawyers conceded, there is little that the Bar Council could do to overcome its problem in fulfilling the statutory one-fifth quorum requirement for major meetings.

They said the only way the matter can be resolved is for the government to amend the legal provision in the Legal Profession Act 1976 (LPA) and reduce the quorum.

Bar Council chairperson Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari told malaysiakini that the government must amend the requirement because the law must reflect the reality and expressed his confidence that the government would eventually fulfill the request.

"There is no organisation in the world which is slammed with such a high quorum. In three years, I believe our members will increase to 20,000. Now you tell me, which hotel can accommodate 4,000 people in its conference hall? It will be impossible for us then," he said.

Matter of time

"Anyway, the (de facto law) minister Dr Rais Yatim had publicly announced in our annual dinner that the government is favourable to amending the provision. It is only a matter of time."

Kuthubul also disagreed with the view that lawyers' "tidak apa" attitude was also at fault in causing the repeated failures of the Bar's meetings..

"When we fixed an EGM (extraordinary general meeting) and give a date, are all lawyers expected to abandon all their plans to come to the EGM? I don't think it is fair for us to make such a demand. Although some may support the agenda, they could not have made it because of prior engagements," he said.

"Which is why we need to reduce the quorum so that we can have a reasonable requirement."

The most recent failure took place last Saturday, where an EGM to discuss issues related to judicial appointment had to be cancelled as the Bar failed to fulfill to gather 2,212 members from its 11,000-strong membership.

As to the proposals to impose penalties or to allow lawyers to appoint "proxies" to vote on their behalf, Kuthubul said those measures would not solve the problem.

"That will only complicate matters. Because when the quorum is ridiculously high, there is nothing we can do."

Concurring with Kuthubul is former council chairperson Zainur Zakaria who also said that the high requirement is the main "culprit", adding that the council could do very little except to continue pressing the government to amend the LPA.

"We have been asking the government to amend the provision and reduce the quorum but they have not been keeping their promises," he said.

"It is just so ridiculous. There are organisations which are bigger than us but their quorum requirement is only one-tenth."

Conflicting views

Zainur said apart from the statutory requirement, conflicting views against the council is also a cause for the lack of quorum.

"Of course not all members agree with the council. For example, like the recent EGM proposal, some felt that it is important but there are also who believed that we should not get involved. So the conflicting ideals cause some to stray away from attending such meetings," he said.

However, the lawyer of 30 years admitted that the apathetic attitude of some lawyers had worsened the situation.

"There are lawyers who are just not bothered and refused to make time to attend the meeting.. They are just not interested to attend any meeting. They only want to spend their time to make more money and there is nothing we can do about that," he said.

"But as far as the judicial appointment issues are concerned, I know most members agree with the council. Everywhere I go, lawyers seemed to discuss the issue. Everyone expressed their concern over the appointment and are in favour of putting a more transparent system in place."

"I think they thought it was such a big issue, that most are confident that the quorum will be met and their presence was not needed."

When asked what measures could be taken to overcome the problem, Zainur said the council could consider imposing a penalty for absentees as what had been done by the Singapore Bar.

Agenda important

Another lawyer Sankara Nair believed that the main factor that influence members in attending meetings largely depends on the agenda.

"A lawyer will be willing to sacrifice his time to attend a meeting if the agenda hold issues that are compelling enough for him. If he is seriously concerned with the issue, logistic and time will be of no importance and he will make the extra efforts to attend the meeting," he said.

Referring to an EGM discussing issues on contempt and admission of foreign lawyers held a few years ago, Sankara said most lawyers were concerned that it took the bar less than two hours to attain the quorum needed.

"I remembered how proud Haji Sulaiman (Abdullah- the then council chairperson) felt when we recorded the quorum at 9am. So this showed that the issue is an important factor," he said.

As to recent proposed EGM, Sankara said that while the issue was indeed very important as reflected in the attendance of more than 1,400 lawyers, it was not enough to pull the crowd.

"Of course there are other contributing factors like statements made by government leaders insinuating that the meeting was illegal and this could scare many lawyers especially young ones," he added.

"Also there were complaints that the pre-amble and the resolutions was incongruous. Some felt that the resolution was not strong enough to make any effect and therefore did not attend."

Blame themselves

Young lawyer Francis Soh said the lawyers have little else to blame but themselves.

"It is mostly the "attitude problem". Many are just not bothered to face the inconvenience in attending the meetings. This is more so with outstation lawyers who would have to travel all the way to Kuala Lumpur to attend a half-day meeting," he said.

"If one looks at the bar's history, even agendas effecting the lawyers themselves do not get good response. For example, there was an agenda to increase the conveyancing fees which has not be updated for years. But when we called for the EGM, we did not manage to get the quorum."

He said the only way to overcome such problems is to give lawyers alternative or options in giving their support without having to attend the meeting physically.

"Instead of coming physically, maybe we should allow them to appoint proxies to represent them. Like myself, I supported the agenda but had to go to Sabah. If I was allowed to nominate a proxy to vote of my behalf, it would be one member more.

As to the suggestion of imposing penalties for absentees, Soh said such a measure should only be considered as a last resort.

"After giving them alternatives, and they still don't come, then we maybe we should consider imposing a fine and treat them like children."

In August, Kuthubul called for the EGM last Saturday after his colleagues in the council felt that the issue was serious enough to be discussed further by all members of the Bar.

The Bar had planned to discuss the unsatisfactory justification for July's controversial appointment of judges where senior members of the judiciary were overlooked for promotions to the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.

The meeting also seeks to establish an independent judicial commission to ensure a more transparent and systematic procedure for future appointments - a suggestion which was criticised by the Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.