I cannot refrain from commenting on the Bar Council's use of the word "colloquium" when it met recently to discuss the current judicial trends and the rule of law following the controversies over several judgements, in particular, the Federal Court's despicable judgment of ex-premier Anwar Ibrahim's appeal.

I have been using English for over 80 years and had never heard it used or seen it written. Not knowing what it meant, I looked it up in my 1,500-page Concise Oxford Dictionary but could not find such a word. I then looked for it in my much larger two-volume Shorter Oxford English Dictionary where it is described as "An assembly for discussion; a conference, council. (Not in ordinary English use.) 1844."

The Bar Council must have another (the late) Eusoffe Abdoolcader on the committee. I usually had to use my English dictionaries when I read his judgments.

In any case, I thought it was a very good idea that the council held a forum instead of an extraordinary general meeting which avoided the problem of a quorum and the dire consequences if it was not obtained.

I am most distressed to have missed it as I was especially anxious to attend the event but for a mis-communication between the bar and myself. I only hope the council has audio or video recordings of the forum.