YOURSAY ‘The Bar owes it to the rakyat to bring Shafee to book.’
Bar mulls referring Shafee to disciplinary board
Slumdog: New Bar Council chairperson Steven Thiru, don’t just talk about referring veteran lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to the disciplinary board, just do it.
Use every legal, legislative and procedural avenue available to make Shafee explain his decisions, actions and motivations for his roadshow against Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Shafee did not give Anwar a chance to defend his good name and reputation. Shafee’s over-inflated ego, self-importance and arrogance needs to be brought down a few pegs.
Haveagreatday: Yes, Thiru, making sure Shafee is made accountable for his despicable actions should be the first order of the day for the new Bar Council committee.
I am no lawyer, so I know not the procedures that ought to be followed, but, please for the sake of justice, make sure Shafee is referred to the Bar's disciplinary board.
Gerard Lourdesamy: Enough of Shafee and his antics. The Bar Council has sufficient grounds to refer him to the disciplinary board for misconduct.
The ex-parte injunction that he obtained was a travesty of justice without foundation in law and fact. Which law says that the conduct or misconduct of a lawyer cannot be discussed by his or her own professional body?
It is time that the Bar put him in his place. We all have to play by the rules even if we disagree with them or think that they are outdated. Shafee no matter how high and mighty he may think he is, is not higher than the law.
Anticonmen: What’s the point when a member of a professional body can take an injunction to prevent its members to discuss and debate on a motion on him at an AGM (annual general meeting)?
Is this not also a gross violation of the members' code of conduct and ethics that warrants deregistration of the errant member?
Bar Council, why so scared to take immediate action against Shafee? Why the foot-dragging?
When it is an ordinary lawyer, you are so fast to take action even over a small thing, like not renewing one’s indemnity insurance.
Stop mulling. Take disciplinary action now by suspending and deregistering Shafee for serious violation of your code of professional conduct and ethics as he has brought gross disrepute to the profession.
Ipohcrite: I think the Bar owes it to the rakyat to bring Shafee to book, one way or another, legally. Such a brazen act of wrongdoing cannot go unpunished.
TehTarik: Some say that he is one of the most brilliant legal brains that has walked on planet Earth and he is the defender of the longest surviving political party in the democratic world.
BN has ruled for longer than any other political party thanks to the support of the rakyat. And BN has survived against all odds thanks to some of its most intelligent advisors.
This includes the super lawyer, Shafee, a legal brain that is the envy of many a lawyer. Kudos to BN and Shafee.
Odysseus: When it's time to stand up and be counted as a man, he decided to run away from challenge.
He can only boast in front of paid crowd but fear to defend himself before his peers. With this, his properly crafted image has permanently gone down the drain.
Mushiro: Outgoing Bar Council chairperson Christopher Leong is a fine gentleman for accepting the motion to censure him by G100 lawyers, and yet magnanimous and patient that the Bar's motion against Shafee cannot be discussed because of an injunction.
Justice Pao: Our de facto law minister claimed that no one took up the challenge to debate Shafee at the first Umno-sponsored roadshow, but it looks like the one who chickened out of the debate is Shafee himself.
Abasir: One faced his peers bravely, fully confident in himself and the cause he represented.
The other, a coward, did what cowards do. Scamper away, seeking protection... ashamed to face those he tacitly recognises as superior to him in both intellect and integrity.
Together, however, they mirror the country's on-going struggle between the forces of good and evil, between right and might.
Vijay47: Oops! Did you expect this, Shafee? I am sure you would have, since your immortal exalted highness "does not make mistakes".
So what have you earned from your escapade in obtaining the injunction, apart from further contempt and odium?
It was, what you would say, academic or a pyrrhic victory since your relief is so short-lived and you will be having an appointment with the disciplinary board from which I don't think any court can bail you out.
Then again, I suppose saving your hide from a public hiding is success enough. I would suggest that you take up dancing - you will be facing the music soon.
Apa Ini?: Thiru, congratulations on your election to the chairperson of the Bar Council. And thank you, Leong.
We are proud of the Bar Council for holding up against the odds in Malaysia. We have faith at least in you to keep the legal process in our country relevant where other bodies have been much more unreliable.
Anonymous #47435535: Syabas, Malaysian lawyers. Please continue to uphold the principle of justice even in the darkest hours of our beloved nation.
Hplooi: On a successful challenge to Shafee’s injunction (a big if), the Bar Council can always call for an EGM (extraordinary general meeting) to specifically move a motion to discuss the matter.
I suggest this be of utmost importance as it impinges on the very foundations of the legal profession in Malaysia.
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