The Business Ethics Institute of Malaysia (BEIM) reads with serious concern the digital board message currently displayed at the entrance of the Malaysian Bar Council headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The digital message reads: “Malaysian Bar council condemns intimidation of lawyers acting for clients. Respect independence of the Bar”.

The Malaysian Bar Council is deemed as an ‘independent Bar whose aim is amongst others, to uphold the rule of law and the cause of justice. It also protects the interest of the legal profession and that of the public’.

Further, one of its given purposes is to uphold the cause of justice without regard to its own interests or that of its members, uninfluenced by fear or favour.

Hence, the Bar posting the stated alert on its digital notice board at its premises must gain the attention of all concerned citizens and professional bodies.

In this regard too, BEIM is gravely concerned. If the legal framework and a nation’s legal practice have been compromised, affecting the dispensation of justice without fear or favour, it deserves immediate attention.

If the powers that be have exerted any form of intimidation - either subtle or obvious, it must be condemned. Likewise, if those at the helm of leadership positions have remained silent or done nothing to protect a country’s rule of law and cause of justice, they, too, must be held accountable.

A nation whose legal practice and its justice system are made vulnerable in the hands of political game plans and turned into political currency for political party expediencies, these cannot provide an ethical business climate.

For business ethics to flourish there is a symbiotic trust relationship between business, policies and the legal framework.

Business ethics is inseparable from a nation’s progress, peace and prosperity. Without the nurturing of a sustainable business ethics, entire populations suffer and cannot benefit from the waves of increasing transparency, good governance and accountability that is the standard amongst the business world of developed nations.

BEIM extends its support to the Malaysian Bar Council’s efforts to return to the Malaysian landscape the integrity, honor and progressive trust in the legal practice and justice system.

We believe that a legal profession that can exercise and fulfill its vocation without fear or favour it will successfully and ably play a catalytic role in the furtherance of widespread business ethics in any country that is seriously committed to peace, progress and prosperity of its citizenry.

In this networked global economy that is greatly affected and directed by the ever transforming information communication technologies, the role and purpose of business ethics cannot be underestimated.

In our nation’s own and very quest to be a part of the developed team of nations, business ethics is a standard that must measure up.

And when we talk of business ethics, it encompasses professional ethics. Hence, as long as the legal profession is under threat of compromises and fears of coercion, BEIM stands together with the Malaysian Bar Council in registering a growing concern.