The Bar Council will proceed with its emergency general meeting on June 23 in spite of objections raised by lawyer K. Raja Segaran that the meeting and its proposed resolution would be contemptous and seditious.

Bar Council president Sulaiman Abdullah told malaysiakini today that the council has decided to proceed with the meeting after consulting their legal advisers and a letter will be sent to Raja Segaran informing him of their decision.

Sulaiman said the issues raised in Raja Segaran's letter of objection do not arise at the proposed meeting and that the council is prepared to face any legal action.

"We are glad that members have taken an active interest in the issues raised and this particular member has taken a certain interpretation of the law which we disagree with," said Sulaiman.

"If he wants to take legal action, we will not stop him. He has to do what he feels is right," he added.

"The meeting will proceed as planned unless someone shows us evidence that the meeting is unlawful or unless a lawful authority dismisses the meeting. We are all lawyers. We will follow the letter of the law," he said

The Bar Council will convene an EGM on June 23 to move a motion calling for the establishment of a tribunal or royal commission of inquiry to investigate into the conduct of Chief Justice Eusoff Chin arising from the recent controversy surrounding his 1994 holiday in New Zealand and to call for the suspension of the Chief Justice pending the decision of such a tribunal or commission.

Eusoff who was photographed with lawyer V.K Lingam has claimed that their meeting was coincidental.

Raja Segaran had yesterday issued a letter to the Bar Council calling for the meeting to be cancelled on the grounds that the meeting and its proposed resolution would be ultra-vires the Legal Profession Act and that certain matters intended for discussion at the meeting would be sub-judice as well as contravening the Sedition Act.

He said further that the meeting and the adoption of the resolution "will cause irreparable damage to the image, integrity and independence of the judiciary which we as members of the Bar are beholden to protect".

Raja Segaran added that he feared contempt and sedition proceedings may be taken against members of the Bar who participate in the meeting should the meeting be held and had given the Bar Council 48 hours to respond, failing which he would seek recourse from the courts.

Last year, Raja Segaran successfully sought an injunction against the Bar Council to stop a similar meeting from taking place.

His injunction was granted on the grounds that the issues raised for discussion at the meeting, such as those pertaining to contempt proceedings against lawyers Zainur Zakaria and Tommy Thomas, were sub-judice as their cases were pending in court.

However, a lawyer, who declined to be named, said that the basis of the previous injunction does not apply in this case as the matters raised for discussion at the coming EGM related to the behaviour of a judge out of court as opposed to matters bearing relation to their decisions in court.

A copy of Raja Segaran's letter is posted on the Bar Council website at http://www.jaring.my/bar-mal/not/Raja.htm