Lawyers contacted by malaysiakini today expressed their dissatisfaction at the attempt by colleague K. Raja Segaran to stop the emergency general meeting of the Bar on June 23.

Most lawyers felt that the issues to be discussed at the EGM were neither contemptuous nor seditious as alleged by Raja Segaran and felt that it was pre-emptive to strike out a proposed discussion before the meeting actually took place.

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.

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.

A lawyer, who declined to be named, noted that the proposed resolution was no different from the usual resolutions moved by the Bar Council and that the Bar is empowered under the Legal Profession Act to uphold justice and the independence of the courts.

"This is one of the things the members of the Bar should consider," he said. "If lawyers don't consider this issue, who will ?"

"It is also presumptuous to condemn the meeting when the meeting has not materialised," he added.

"Why don't we wait until the EGM is held before deciding whether the matter is contemptuous or not? They have not even decided whether to support the proposed resolution or not."

A lawyer from Penang who said she was planning to attend the meeting called the attempt to stop the EGM "ridiculous" while another lawyer noted that the attempt to stop the meeting was an infringement of the right of the Bar to discuss matters which affect the legal profession, of which the independence and integrity of the judiciary was one.

KL-based lawyer Ragu Kesavan noted that the upcoming EGM has opened a space for the deliberations of important issues.

"While any person has the right to seek the assistance of the court if he or she feels aggrieved, whether it was appropriate to do so or not is a separate matter altogether," Kesavan said, referring to Raja Segaran's letter calling on the Bar Council to call off the EGM.