The recently concluded Bar Council elections saw only about 3,000 of the approximately 11,000 Malaysian Bar members casting their ballots. One senior lawyer claimed that the dismal response was nothing new.

"This is about the usual number of members that participate in the council elections over the past years," said Sulaiman Abdullah when contacted today.

He also dismissed the possibility of a prevalent apathetic attitude among lawyers as an unfair generalisation.

"There are many new lawyers who are not sufficiently in the know about the candidates nominated... and so they do not know who to choose... while there are others who are too busy to open the letters, read them and decide the candidates," added the former Malaysian Bar president, who has been practising since 1969.

Sulaiman and another former president Hendon Mohamed were among the 12 voted to sit in the Bar Council for the next two years.

According to the 2004/2005 election results obtained by malaysiakini , Sulaiman and Hendon, who received 1,936 and 1,431 votes respectively, were the favourites among the 38 nominees.

The other 10 are Cecil Rajendra (1,264 votes), Dr Cyrus V Das (1,256), the council's current secretary Mohd Sofian Abdul Razak (1,240), Low Beng Choo (1,227), Hamid Sultan Aby Backer (1,170), another former president Mah Weng Kwai (1159), Christopher Leong ( 1,109), Yasmeen Muhamad Shariff (1,100) Ambiga Sreenevasan (1088) and current treasurer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar (1088).

A council member, who declined to be identified, confirmed the results stating that no official statements can be made as the matter has yet to be presented to the current council members.

In late September, a total of 11,130 postal ballots were sent to all members together with a list of all the candidates.

Members were required to return their votes by Nov 30 as stipulated in the Legal Profession Act 1976 but only 30 percent or 3,153 members did so.

Sufficient reminders

Meanwhile, Sulaiman ( right ) disagreed that the council was not making any efforts to ensure that lawyers return the ballots. According to him, ample reminders were given about the elections.

"The Malaysian Bar website and the state bar websites like the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee had reminded members to return the ballots.

"To make it easy for new members, a half page write-up on each candidate was provided together with the ballot papers. So all efforts were made," he said.

The veteran lawyer noted that the lack of participation was not a unique problem to the legal profession but was the general Malaysian attitude.

"Even at the general election the number of people that go to the ballot boxes are discouraging. But there are always a small group of people who do things and make the effort for the betterment of society and professions.

"It's up to individuals whether they want to become part of the group that does something or be part of the group that takes a back seat but complain when things go wrong," he added.

Sulaiman advised young lawyers to play a more active role and not turn their back on the opportunities to become leaders in the profession.

"If you are not prepared to make an effort to be part of the profession, then you can't expect the profession to do wonderful things for you," he said.

'Spoon-feeding'

Meanwhile, a senior lawyer from Selangor complained that the council failed to regularly remind members to return the ballot papers especially in time of the Hari Raya celebration.

"We have tonnes of work to think about. Our clients, court dates, returning forms of our insurance and practicing certificates. We do want to participate in the elections but there are only so much that we can deal with," he said.

Responding to this, Sulaiman said there was no need for constant reminders.

"Like income tax payments, the authorities send the form and tell you to submit but if you don't...you'll be fined. It's the same here. How much spoon feeding do they need?

"They are lawyers for God's sake. You are supposed to be in charge of other people's issues, if you can't handle simple things like this how can you handle anything else professionally," he said.

He said the professional training of lawyers may be at fault as there was little emphasis on a lawyer's role in "repaying" the society and the profession.

"Maybe we are too lax in admitting members in the profession. Many people think that just because they have a law degree they have the right to be part of the profession. It is not as of right, but a privilege.

"So you must have a pro-active attitude for the profession which then in turn would benefit the society. If you don't want to build that kind of attitude, that maybe you shouldn't be in the profession," he stressed.