Young lawyers brushed off the notion that the campaign to repeal Section 46A of the Legal Profession Act 1976 (LPA) is to curb the role of senior lawyers in the Bar Council.

Amer Hamzah Arshad, a Kuala Lumpur Bar Young Lawyers committee member, told malaysiakini that the campaign is not an attempt by young lawyers to challenge their seniors but aimed to abolish the inequalities and unfairness that is entrenched in the Act.

"This is not a coup d'etat or a mutiny...We are not asking to make it compulsory to have young lawyers to sit in the council. All we want is to remove the prohibition and have a level-playing field so that members of the Bar can decide freely as to who they want to lead the Malaysian Bar," said Amer.

He said this in response to the views by senior lawyers who had expressed fears that the Bar Council would be led by inexperienced members and those with hidden political agenda should section 46A is dropped.

Some senior lawyers sought to affirm the provision stating it has not stop the young lawyers - which forms 75 percent of the 10,500-strong Malaysian Bar - from voicing their concerns through the young lawyers committee attached to all state Bar committees.