The government will proceed with its proposal to set up a law academy without seeking the approval of the Bar Council, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said the academy will not engage members from among the Bar Council but will be an organisation that represents the law profession as a whole, to include academicians and former judges.

“We tabled the proposal for first reading 10 years ago. What right has the Bar Council to hinder academicians and those who work in banks, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, and former judges to have their own association? The academy will not engage members from the Bar Council. That would not be right.

“Why should there be a necessity for a consultation with the Bar Council on other people’s rights? The issue does not arise. If the Bar Council is to restrain it, they are infringing on people’s rights,” he said during the question and answer session in parliament in Kuala Lumpur.

He was replying to a supplementary question by Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) who wanted to know whether a decision on the establishment of the academy has been made and whether the government had consulted the Bar Council on the matter.

Mohamed Nazri stressed that the freedom of association of every Malaysian citizen is guaranteed under the federal constitution and the Bar Council had no right to restrain it.

Replying to a supplementary question by Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) on whether the academy would be restricted by the government as it was to be set up through legislation, Mohamed Nazri countered that the Bar Council was also set up through law but could not be confined by the government.

He gave the assurance that the selection of the academy’s members would be similar to that for the Bar Council and stressed its establishment was to raise the standard of the law profession to a higher level.

- Bernama