The Bar Council has welcomed the decision by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department and de facto Law Minister Dr RaisYatim in deferring the tabling of the Law Academy Bill to consider the protests by members of the council.

Chairperson Mah Weng Kwai said Rais' decision to re-schedule the bill's second reading in the Dewan Rakyat to next year is a positive step and hoped that the minister will consider the counter proposals offered by the council last June.

"This is a very good development. We have made our counter proposals in the memorandum which we submitted last June and the postponement will allow them to seriously look into our views," he said when contacted today.

Mah also said that the council is willing to discuss the matter further with the minister and Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail "if the meetings can help them make their decision".

This is the first feedback from the minister on the issue since the council submitted the memorandum in June. The council's request to be provided with a copy of the latest amended bill has not received any response.

Last week, Rais told malaysiakini that he had instructed for the proposed law to be withdrawn to consider the counter-proposals made by the Bar Council in June. He expects to table the amended draft law early next year.

Question on membership

The draft of the bill courted controversy and criticism when it was tabled for first reading.

Rais said he would examine the Bill with Abdul Gani on the issues raised by the legal fraternity.

He also indicated that the new format will be "purely a government format with judges as members", but added that "we are looking at the membership part of it in greater detail because lawyers were unhappy with the compulsory requirement".

More than 2,000 of the 10,000-strong Malaysian Bar voted unanimously at an extraordinary general meeting last May to challenge the constitutionality of the bill.

The bar is up in arms against the government's bid to impose compulsory membership and control the conduct of the legal profession. It wants to be allowed self-governance and regulation, elect its own senate members, provision for general meetings and accountability.

Other grouses include the potential conflict of interest if judges were given automatic membership, fear of the council's role and powers of self-regulation being usurped, authoritarian tendencies pertaining to the academy's administration and the ultimate power resting with the minister.