More professional bodies should speak up against issues plaguing the country, urged former Malaysian Bar president Ragunath Kesavan.

“It is important for professional bodies to stand up, speak up. It need not be a situation where you are against the government, (but) if it is, so be it,” he said.

He said this during his presentation in a session titled ‘Developing a Dialog Rakyat Code of Ethical Conduct’, as part of a conference by Dialog Rakyat for national cohesion and unity at Persatuan Alumni Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur today.

The Malaysian Bar is known for being very vocal, he said, but it should not be the only professional body in the Malaysia doing so.

“What (about the) accountants’ views on 1MDB? Is this the norm, that big accounting firms walk away and there are no punishments?

“Should there not be more debates on how the auditor-general’s reports have been carried out?” he asked.

He also cited the example of the collapsed pedestrian bridge near Mid Valley Megamall on Wednesday and questioned why professional organisations for engineers and architects did not speak up about that incident.

At least one construction worker was killed and several more injured when the bridge, which was under construction, collapsed.

It is shocking that other professional bodies do not speak up about issues, especially those relevant to their profession, he said.

Professionals are the elite, he added, with a monopoly on services that they provide.

This means that they should give back to society by speaking up on issues, he said.

He also pointed out that even within the Bar, which appears to be so outspoken, the ones who are vocal are only a small group of lawyers.

“We had the elections (for the Bar Council) recently, there are 17,000 lawyers (in Malaysia) but only 3,000 voted.

“At the (Malaysian Bar) annual general meeting, same thing, 17,000 lawyers, only 1,000 turned up,” he said.

Fortunately, as a self-regulating body, he said, if the Bar president does not speak up against issues and injustice, those 1,000 lawyers are also the ones who will be hounding the president to do something.

“But what we need now is we need more contributions from the other professions,” he reiterated.